Battletech is back!!!

[Jarhead0331]

Hey JH -- I just did that mission yesterday. Question: is one of your mechs a dedicated missile boat? Especially in this mission, I think one is indispensable in order to be able to hit enemies at a safe, hidden distance.

For this mission, I had: Thunderbolt, Kintaro, Shadow Hawk, and Centurion. In some ways, the Centurion is always my key mech. It can fire a total salvo of 40 LRM++ (in three banks, 15, 15, 10) that do substantial stability damage. My usual tactic involves my scout Shadow Hawk spotting and sensor locking for my Centurion, who then barrages the enemy from safe distance while my other 2 mechs close for the knockdown.

The supply depot mission is very much a 'let them come to you' type mission, though that's usually my SOP anyway. Ignore the cargo trucks; if you try to intercept them, you'll just come in sight of the Turrets, which you want to avoid at all costs. You also want to avoid being spotted by enemy mechs that act as spotters for the missile turrets.

So like you're doing, use the terrain and stay behind the rocky outcroppings and out of sight as much as you can. Use your scout unit to get high and spot -- yes he'll inevitably get spotted and shot at, but using Vigilance helps here. Meanwhile, use your missile boat to knock the hell out of mechs that stick their heads out. In addition to my 40-rocket Centurion, my Kintaro sports 20 LRM++ missiles. Being able to hit an enemy mech with potentially 60 LRMs in a round is key for me. I'm usually guaranteed a knockdown that way.

This is a tough fight. I ignored the cargo trucks but saved all the caches, and the payout was good. My Thunderbolt had an exposed core that made for some dicey rounds, but he survived. Also, because the mission is on an effin' desert planet, heat management makes things harder. (I find I try to avoid missions on deserts -- and esp. lunar -- worlds wherever possible; i look for tundra and polar whenever i can.)

Question for SDR -- I find the Jaegermech hard to use. Do you like yours? I have mine outfitted with one AC 5++ and one AC 10++. Decent armor and 4 jumpjets, so good mobility and heat management. I just find he never packs enough punch to be worth taking him on missions. I usually ignore the AC 2 but maybe I should try outfitting one.

Good advice. I have two centurians, but I normally shelve them since they don't come equipped with jump jets. I prefer mobility and getting in close with guns and lasers. However, I have not tried focusing on LRM strikes for knockdowns. I will give this strategy a shot.

Once again, I have not even come across a Kintaro or Thunderbolt in my travels.

I agree about the desert and lunar worlds. I avoid them like the plague. Especially with my preferred strategy of using heat intensive weaponry.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Question for SDR -- I find the Jaegermech hard to use. Do you like yours? I have mine outfitted with one AC 5++ and one AC 10++. Decent armor and 4 jumpjets, so good mobility and heat management. I just find he never packs enough punch to be worth taking him on missions. I usually ignore the AC 2 but maybe I should try outfitting one.

Love my Jaeger.  It and the Grasshopper are the backbone of my Lance.  Mine has 2AC5++ and 2AC2+ (still haven't found any ++ AC2s anywhere).  I keep it back and park it on high ground with good LOS.  Called shots to legs can usually cripple and knock over most mechs in 1-2 volleys.  The drawbacks are weak Armor and slow speed but it's usually far enough back where it's not an issue.  My Grasshopper scouts forward to contact, gets behind cover and sensor locks and enemy.  Jaeger pummels its legs, Grasshopper jumps out and roasts it with 6 flamers which renders it useless for a turn, Jaeger blasts the legs of the next target, Grasshopper flames that one and the other two mechs are on clean up of the cripples or crowd control against vehicles. 

[sandman2575]

FWIW, my Centurion packs the 3 LRM banks, 5 LRM ammo magazines (total of 600 missiles, so lots of staying power, which is also why dividing up into 3 banks 15/15/10 is nice so as to give you some flexibility / conserve ammo when needed), 2 jump jets (so not really mobile, but can scale heights when he needs to), and pretty minimal armor, since if he's ever exposed to direct enemy fire, i've clearly f***ed up. Getting the + and ++ LRMs with extra stability damage is key. Luckily they seem easier to come by than ++ SRM banks, in my experience.

Love the Thunderbolt. Thing carries a ton of armor and a ton of firepower, but unfortunately no AC slots. I was getting pretty frustrated with not being able to field any Heavies, but eventually I've been able to piece them together through salvage when you have a ton of 1 and 2 pieces of mech salvage lying about. So you'll get them, but it's luck of the draw and frustrating while you wait. But pretty great when you do finally have the 3 pieces.

@SDR -- thanks -- maybe I should give the Jaeger another look, with the weapons config. you use.  I *really* want a Grasshopper, but only have 1 piece of salvage from the one time I've come across one. But seems like an awesome Heavy.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Sounds to me like your Centurion is already filling the same role as my Jaeger does for me.  Long range fire support causing knockdowns.  I initially planned on going down the LRM route and had Glitch piloting a Catapult but I ran into a few missions where reinforcements would appear on the flanks and get inside the LRM envelope.  One caused an ammo explosion that took out Glitch.  That's when I decided to go with the jaeger instead.

[Jarhead0331]

Great advice, guys. Thanks.

I may continue to run side ops until I score some of the heavier mechs before trying this campaign mission, which by all accounts appears to be a real bitch.  in the meantime, I will experiment with equipping my centurions as dedicated missile whores.

[sandman2575]

This game is insanely addictive. HBS was very savvy to use XCOM as a template for the campaign/comp. management side of things, since XCOM is, likewise, insanely addictive. Personally, I much prefer the Mech theme to XCOM's 'little green men invading earth' story. But I hope HBS will eventually let us customize the Mechs and Mechwarriors along lines similar to what XCOM and XCOM2 give you. Just customizing your troopers in XCOM was half the fun of the game to me.

EDIT -- I mean cosmetic customization -- obviously BT gives you lots of customization with Mechs' weapons loadouts etc.

[Jarhead0331]

This game is insanely addictive. HBS was very savvy to use XCOM as a template for the campaign/comp. management side of things, since XCOM is, likewise, insanely addictive. Personally, I much prefer the Mech theme to XCOM's 'little green men invading earth' story. But I hope HBS will eventually let us customize the Mechs and Mechwarriors along lines similar to what XCOM and XCOM2 give you. Just customizing your troopers in XCOM was half the fun of the game to me.

EDIT -- I mean cosmetic customization -- obviously BT gives you lots of customization with Mechs' weapons loadouts etc.

My understanding is that the first major free update will permit the player to customize his/her mech warriors.

[Capn Darwin]

The game is fun. The memory leaks and not releasing memory after exit (seems to be a unity thing since other unity based games do it too) are annoying.

There is a deception and deflection campaign being waged via pronouns, hair color, and Steam Workshop support covering up the most important question in the BT universe. Where are the aliens? Did humanity, in its own dickish way, lay waste to every ET we encountered in our blood thirsty expansion into the universe? Did the movie industry drive such deep seeded fears of anything not earth based human that we just went native if anything said hello. I want to know the truth of this xenophobic purge. 

Kidding of course.  :bd:

[sandman2575]

his/her mech warriors.

I think you must mean his/her/their warriors.

(yes, completely kidding. Really don't want to touch off arguments about BT's 'choose your own pronoun' option -- I rolled my eyes when I first saw it, but I honestly don't think it's a big deal. But I couldn't resist.)

EDIT -- oops, missed Capn Darwin's post!   #:-)

[Jarhead0331]

his/her mech warriors.

I think you must mean his/her/their warriors.

(yes, completely kidding. Really don't want to touch off arguments about BT's 'choose your own pronoun' option -- I rolled my eyes when I first saw it, but I honestly don't think it's a big deal. But I couldn't resist.)

EDIT -- oops, missed Capn Darwin's post!   #:-)

I refuse to acknowledge the fact that such an option actually exists...

[CptHowdy]

the ammo dump is the only mission ive restarted multiple times. i had to get those damn transports!!! i did not see the ammo cache that takes out two of those turrets as i was to busy running off to the left to get in position for the transports. would have made the mission much easier without those!! i have two dedicated LRM mechs and at the time of the mission i was running a centurion, two shadowhawks and a wolverine. moltenmetal just posted a video of this exact mission on youtube yesterday.

[sandman2575]

Ha, I forgot you could take out the turrets that way!  I would've been tempted to had I remembered. But at least I wound up saving all the caches by forgetting it was an option to blow them up.

To me, the transports just seemed like a "OK you've got to be kidding me" distraction. There was no way I could get to them without jeopardizing the entire mission and probably losing a Mech/Mechwarrior along the way. Just did not seem worth it to me. Not sure I'd go after them in a 2nd playthrough, either. You get plenty for just completing the mission and saving the caches.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I tried that one about a half dozen times without blowing up any ammo dumps and killing both transports.  Came close but just couldn't do it without the loss of a mech.  I finally went with the option to kill the one ammo dump that knocked out both LRM turrets and that made it doable.  The Grasshopper is fast enough to catch the transports and with some LRM assists, can take them both out and get back into the fight without suffering too badly.  There is a very nasty turret over where the transports try to get to though.

[Jarhead0331]

Thanks for the recommendation on dedicated missile loadoits. Extremely effective. I refit two centurions to mount LRMs with plenty of spare ammo and DAAAAMMMNNN! Let's just say I have a kintaro and trebuchet now too. The kintaro is a killer.

Still holding off on that ammo dump mission, but soon...

[Kushan]

FWIW, my Centurion packs the 3 LRM banks, 5 LRM ammo magazines (total of 600 missiles, so lots of staying power, which is also why dividing up into 3 banks 15/15/10 is nice so as to give you some flexibility / conserve ammo when needed), 2 jump jets (so not really mobile, but can scale heights when he needs to), and pretty minimal armor, since if he's ever exposed to direct enemy fire, i've clearly f***ed up. Getting the + and ++ LRMs with extra stability damage is key. Luckily they seem easier to come by than ++ SRM banks, in my experience.

I went the other way with my Centurion, 720 SRMs in 3 banks plus 2 medium lasers, and all the armor I could add to it. Might give your LRM build a try.

Haven't been been able to piece together a heavy yet