Battletech is back!!!

[sandman2575]

Well, it happened last night. Lost Behemoth. I'd probably rather lose a Mech, even a decent one like the Quickdraw she was piloting, than a good veteran Mechwarrior. Didn't really have a chance to eject in this case - combination of some fearsome enemies (an Orion and Quickdraw), flanking, focused fire, and some luck meant her Mech went from a little banged up but decent shape to destroyed in a single round.

Which leads to another issue - it seems like the missions have ramped up in difficulty *a lot* since completing the first big campaign mission (pirate moon base). That mission with the enemy Orion and QuickDraw was a '2 skull' level - I haven't taken any missions harder than 2. In another, I faced 3 dangerous medium Mechs I had never encountered (incl. a Hunchback - thing is an alpha strike menace) that led to me having to eject one MW while my other 3 got pretty manhandled.

So I definitely agree with JH's assessment that you need a spare MW or 2 in order to cope with all the 20-40 day injuries your veterans sustain. But how to train them up still seems like an insoluble problem,esp. now that even level 2 missions have become quite dangerous in some cases. Most of the veteran free agents I still can't hire because of not high enough rep. for my merc company.

The other issue I'm running into is *long* repair / upgrade queues with my mechs -- like, 2+ months to get my lance back in working order. I guess I'm learning the hard way I need to keep some 2nd class Mechs serviceable, though I wonder about their survivability in missions that are only getting harder.

Worried I'm caught in a bit of a death spiral -- lost one of my best MWs, missions getting harder (sometimes a lot harder), expensive and long repairs mean I keep going some months without taking any missions,   which is brutal for your monthly financial report, morale is rock bottom from an attempt to cut costs.  I could frankly use some more 'milk run' missions to rack up cash without incurring damage / injuries, but these seem to have dried up completely. Only level 2 contracts and harder are available.

[knightsabret]

Worried I'm caught in a bit of a death spiral -- lost one of my best MWs, missions getting harder (sometimes a lot harder), expensive and long repairs mean I keep going some months without taking any missions,   which is brutal for your monthly financial report, morale is rock bottom from an attempt to cut costs.  I could frankly use some more 'milk run' missions to rack up cash without incurring damage / injuries, but these seem to have dried up completely. Only level 2 contracts and harder are available.

Have you tried just jumping to another planet and rechecking the missions?  They seem to generate new ones at new locations.  Maybe you will get lucky and find an easier run.

[Jarhead0331]

Well, it happened last night. Lost Behemoth. I'd probably rather lose a Mech, even a decent one like the Quickdraw she was piloting, than a good veteran Mechwarrior. Didn't really have a chance to eject in this case - combination of some fearsome enemies (an Orion and Quickdraw), flanking, focused fire, and some luck meant her Mech went from a little banged up but decent shape to destroyed in a single round.

Which leads to another issue - it seems like the missions have ramped up in difficulty *a lot* since completing the first big campaign mission (pirate moon base). That mission with the enemy Orion and QuickDraw was a '2 skull' level - I haven't taken any missions harder than 2. In another, I faced 3 dangerous medium Mechs I had never encountered (incl. a Hunchback - thing is an alpha strike menace) that led to me having to eject one MW while my other 3 got pretty manhandled.

So I definitely agree with JH's assessment that you need a spare MW or 2 in order to cope with all the 20-40 day injuries your veterans sustain. But how to train them up still seems like an insoluble problem,esp. now that even level 2 missions have become quite dangerous in some cases. Most of the veteran free agents I still can't hire because of not high enough rep. for my merc company.

The other issue I'm running into is *long* repair / upgrade queues with my mechs -- like, 2+ months to get my lance back in working order. I guess I'm learning the hard way I need to keep some 2nd class Mechs serviceable, though I wonder about their survivability in missions that are only getting harder.

Worried I'm caught in a bit of a death spiral -- lost one of my best MWs, missions getting harder (sometimes a lot harder), expensive and long repairs mean I keep going some months without taking any missions,   which is brutal for your monthly financial report, morale is rock bottom from an attempt to cut costs.  I could frankly use some more 'milk run' missions to rack up cash without incurring damage / injuries, but these seem to have dried up completely. Only level 2 contracts and harder are available.

I'm in exactly the same boat. I've completed the first major campaign mission and I'm finding the difficulty has drastically ramped up. I selected a contract that requires my lance to ambush a convoy carrying rare minerals. The c-bill payout and salvage deals are good. I had to put the contract off while my mechs repaired and refit after being banged up in the campaign mission, so my funds are getting dangerously low. Anyway, in mission, this ain't no convoy carrying minerals. It's a heavily armed convoy guarded by a full lance with at least two heavy assault mechs. This is the first mission I've been on where even the tracked vehicles can be a dangerous threat. The mechs are very aggressive and have started to use perks of their own. I've tried a few different strategies and I'm running out of options. I think withdrawing from the contract will kill me financially. Not sure how to proceed.

[sandman2575]

I'm in exactly the same boat. I've completed the first major campaign mission and I'm finding the difficulty has drastically ramped up. I selected a contract that requires my lance to ambush a convoy carrying rare minerals. The c-bill payout and salvage deals are good. I had to put the contract off while my mechs repaired and refit after being banged up in the campaign mission, so my funds are getting dangerously low. Anyway, in mission, this ain't no convoy carrying minerals. It's a heavily armed convoy guarded by a full lance with at least two heavy assault mechs. This is the first mission I've been on where even the tracked vehicles can be a dangerous threat. The mechs are very aggressive and have started to use perks of their own. I've tried a few different strategies and I'm running out of options. I think withdrawing from the contract will kill me financially. Not sure how to proceed.

Just had a very similar experience.  Took another '2 skull' contract -- good payout and salvage haul, so I wasn't expecting a walk in the park, but at least something doable. Darius warned that 'these guys are heavily armed.' Wow, that was an understatement. My first contact was a Black Knight, something I've never seen before. Anyway, 3 other mechs quickly show up, at least one of which was another heavy, the other 2 mediums. Then another mech shows up. Then *another.*  Six total. And they definitely started spamming special abilities, Sensor Lock especially. I had to Withdraw -- first time I've had to do so -- and was lucky not to lose any of my own Mechs.

But six enemy mechs -- in a level 2 mission. What do 4-5 skull contracts look like ?!

@knightsabret -- are you sure about that? I've never seen contracts refresh based on where you travel. The only thing that seems to refresh the missions is completing a contract - ?

[SirAndrewD]

The missions do get difficult quickly.  The skull rating can be wildly inconsistent, and seems to be more a best guess than actual evaluation. 

I didn't take anything short of one and a half skulls after the pirate base mission, and still spent a lot of time with my Mechs in the bay.  But there were some things I learned that helped. 

First, I actually picked up and moved to a medium population system with a good store and managed to get a Star League era Comms system for my PC's mech.  It cost nearly half a million C-Bills, but it's invaluable because it gave a morale bonus.

Better, they were selling an AC 20 there.  I immediately put the AC 20 on the Centurion you get from the Pirate Base, and made it into a Yen-Lo-Wang clone.   This mech can take a pilot, and then liberally use morale to Precision Strike the legs of enemy Mechs.  This will kneecap all medium and most heavy mechs in one shot.

Keep that Precision Strike handy and hot, and use it to focus down top threat Mechs.  Legs are the best target, or the CT from the rear can be an insta kill.  Even without an AC-20 it can be super effective with weapons like a PPC or Large Laser.

Most importantly, don't take 2 skull contracts until after you take the story mission AFTER the Pirate Moon.  It's a tough mission, but can be completed with a lance of mediums and some care.   You'll get solid salvage from it, and more importantly, an extreme upgrade to your facilities that will allow faster repairs and the ability to upgrade your storage and keep more Mechs active.   You'll also finally lose that nasty 70,000 C-Bill hit per month on the upkeep of the, very crappy Leopard that you start with.

[Jarhead0331]

One other thing I learned...apparently, the mix of enemy units is randomized at some point before the start of a mission. After multiple reloads trying different tactics I finally was confronted by a lance of mechs that was much more manageable. Only one medium assault mech armed with a PPC, a Jenner and 2 locusts. I made short work of them all and can finally move on.

[SirAndrewD]

Another suggestion I forgot...

Get yourself an LRM Boat, and look for LRM's that cause stability damage. 

LRM's have a VERY disproportionate chance to do head damage and they deal a lot of stability.   A Mech that has a couple of LRM launchers shooting 20-40 LRM's at an enemy, especially with plus to stability, will keep an enemy Mech on its back almost constantly.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I think the one enemy unit that gives me more trouble than anything else is that damned SRM carrier truck.  Seems like a guaranteed injured pilot with every volley it fires at it can take a fair amount of punishment from the front.

I just finished the 2nd major story mission in the campaign on Panzyr.  Once again, those SRMs were the bane of my existence.  Once they were taken care of, the mission wasn't too difficult although things did get right down to the wire, time wise.

[Jarhead0331]

I think the one enemy unit that gives me more trouble than anything else is that damned SRM carrier truck.  Seems like a guaranteed injured pilot with every volley it fires at it can take a fair amount of punishment from the front.

Agreed. They add a lot of unsteadiness too and can easily knock your mechs to the ground.

I just finished the 2nd major story mission in the campaign on Panzyr.  Once again, those SRMs were the bane of my existence.  Once they were taken care of, the mission wasn't too difficult although things did get right down to the wire, time wise.

I absolutely love this game. I think they've done a fantastic job with the atmosphere, combat and strategic/management layers. Technically, the game runs flawlessly for me too. No obvious bugs or glitches. Very polished.

However, I'm sorry to read that there is a time element to some missions in terms of completion. I don't mind having to hold a defensive position or base for a set number of rounds, but I hate having to complete an objective before a set time elapses. Those kinds of missions can be very frustrating.

[mirth]

Timed missions usually suck and it generally is a crutch for sloppy scenario design. I am not referring specifically to this game, but my over all experience with timed missions/scenarios.

[Gusington]

I hate timed missions in any type of game.

[mikeck]

I hate timed missions in any type of game.

Agreed. If I wanted to be forced to complete something with a deadline, I'd save money and go to work. I game to relax and enjoy and can't stabd when I'm told how I must complete a mission (I.e. fast)

[Gusington]

^Yep.

[DennisS]

Well, crap.

Horrible money crunch. I will run this next mission, but If I get ANY downtime, then my next mission will be with three mechs. Not good.

[sandman2575]

Well, after playing nothing but this game all weekend, I think I'm going to hang the cleats up until the devs tweak down the difficulty a bit. It's gotten ridiculous. My last mission, against 1 lance of mechs supported by 4 missile vehicles, resulted in:  one MW KIA, two ejected, last had to withdraw 'in good faith.'  My entire company is now wrecked for months.


EDIT -- there really needs to be an unlock to increase your lance size, the way you can increase squad size in XCOM from starting 4 to eventual 6.