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I'm inordinately exited about getting the Warhammer and Marauder in my game.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:58
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CompeAnansi posted:I was re-reading your great post on build rules. They all made sense to be but this one. I absolutely hate having to spend a turn doing nothing but jumping + guarding to vent heat, so I've been building my mechs at least heat neutral and mostly with a bit of a heat deficit (if possible) to compensate for the heat from jumping. Can you tell me why being heat neutral is a bad thing? It sounds like more damage over time compared to running hot if you add it up across 10-15 rounds since you never have a down round. More or less what everyone's been answering. The reason comes down to multiple factors and their interactions: !) You don't need to take a full venting round when you're close to the red line, but sometimes it's tactically advantageous to do so, such as when you can't get a good shot in this round but can maneuver for one on the next, or you're close enough you can melee as part of finishing a mech off (be wary of how exposed melee leaves your own mechs). 2) I gauge those alpha strike heat deltas around 4~5 rounds of continuous firing - in a typical drop you'll be doing around 10 to 15 rounds of full-on shooting, but unless you get a hard double or triple opfor activation, these combat rounds are going to be broken up into two or three chunks, so from that perspective it's also wasteful to assume you won't naturally get any lulls to vent. 3) Front-loading damage is good. Perhaps in an hypothetical clash between otherwise equally damage efficient heat positive and heat neutral configurations the latter would deal more damage in the long run (demonstrably false for practical purposes, but let's entertain it a moment), however removing threats from the field faster is better. This is intuitive: if I can eliminate an enemy or disable its weapons even a single round faster than I would otherwise, that's 100 damage my lance isn't taking from it shooting back. 4) Let's say we have a build that's generating 15 heat on its alpha strikes. 15 is a Medium laser + 3, so we can swap one of our medium lasers for a heatsink and now the build is heat neutral. How do these two compare? For the sake of simplification let's assume no jumping or any other fancy tricks, and a temperate biome. The neutral one of course just does its thing, firing every round. The heat positive one has to deal with its heat capacity. On an unskilled pilot the redline is at 60, so with a 15 delta that's 4 rounds of firing before it needs to do heat management. Management in this case is shutting off 2 medium lasers, so it dissipates 9 heat, which translates to 3 additional rounds where it keeps its 'extra' medium laser offline before it needs to do any more management to avoid the redline. The damage: 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 - 25 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 75. So, over the course of 8 rounds of combat, it deals an additional 75 damage over the heat neutral build, and it's not until over 20 rounds of continuous firing before it starts doing less damage comparatively. Essentially, the best way to think of heat is as the cost of damage (and jumping). Now, it might seem a good idea to try and do the "fiscally responsible" thing and always keep a balanced budget turn-to-turn but, as long as we stay below the redline, our heat capacity gives us a zero-interest line of credit. Why not use it? Cover off it the cost of damage you want now, and then just let it sit there until a convenient time to pay it off. Of course, it's more complicated than simply being neutral... but it's optimal.
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Oct 29, 2019 19:15
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The heat bar is a mana bar. Heat sinks give you extra pips of mana regen. If you're keeping your mana bar at full all the time, you're not using your full potential as a
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Oct 29, 2019 19:57
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Norton the First posted:Ultimately, it's a video game, and you have to do something to pass a level. The level of dynamism where you can just accept defeat and all of a sudden your whole invasion has failed and you're desperately guarding the last DropShip off the planet... OK, that would own, actually, but a game like that would be once in a generation. This is true. But I think if there's a dynamic difficulty based on how effective you are, the better you do, the harder path you should be put on. Barely eke out a victory? Stay on easy path or even drop down. Clear the map under par time and hit the bonus objectives? Move to the higher difficulty. Doesn't necessarily make narrative sense. By doing better in a mission, you should logically be setting yourself up for success down the road, making things easier, but I think it's a balance conceit.
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Oct 29, 2019 20:26
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Organ Fiend posted:The heat bar is a mana bar. Heat sinks give you extra pips of mana regen. If you're keeping your mana bar at full all the time, you're not using your full potential as a Oh wow, that actually really helped me to reconceptualize heat. Because you get CCed when you overheat (unlike most mana systems where nothing happens), I was looking at it as something to avoid generating. But thinking about it like mana (or like life in MTG) helps understand why you should run hot and use the 'free' heat available under the overheat threshold. It also shows why increasing your overheat threshold is good: it expands your maximum mana pool. Also, thank you Conspiratiorist for you very detailed explanation with the example. Really helped hammer it in. Makes a lot of sense. I look forward to seeing how my updated builds fare.
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Oct 29, 2019 20:49
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I'm still new to this game and my mech construction skills are poor, but since no one else has said it: don't be scared to overheat when you need to. You get, what, 5 damage to your non-cockpit internals when you do? Sometimes three consecutive alpha strikes are worth an extra three days in the mech bay.Orcs and Ostriches posted:This is true. But I think if there's a dynamic difficulty based on how effective you are, the better you do, the harder path you should be put on. Barely eke out a victory? Stay on easy path or even drop down. Clear the map under par time and hit the bonus objectives? Move to the higher difficulty. Ultimately, I like to be rewarded for going way, way out of my way to do a mission the coolest way. I think it'd be really unsatisfying to complete all the optional objectives just to be hit with heavier lances in the next mission, especially because if I started failing the next mission, I might end up wanting to redo the last mission, but worse. Norton the First fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 21:53
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If the Annihilator is in rocketrobot fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 29, 2019 23:43
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Na anni is ollllllld. It died out fir the most part until the wolf dragoons and clans beought them back
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Oct 29, 2019 23:44
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Stravag posted:Na anni is ollllllld. It died out fir the most part until the wolf dragoons and clans beought them back between the anni and flea, plus all the other lostech, i'm betting the wolf's dragoons feature fairly prominently in the new DLC
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Oct 30, 2019 00:12
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They did say it was the story of why natasha and the bounty hunter hate each other i thought?
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Oct 30, 2019 00:20
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Pornographic Memory posted:between the anni and flea, plus all the other lostech, i'm betting the wolf's dragoons feature fairly prominently in the new DLC I'm okay with that. They're one of the cooler concepts from the pre-clan period. Although Natasha's depictions are way too over the top 80s nerd fantasy style.
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Oct 30, 2019 00:41
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Stravag posted:Na anni is ollllllld. It died out fir the most part until the wolf dragoons and clans beought them back It was one of the biggest red flags that something was weird about the dragoons. They brought over a bunch of 'old' mechs that had died out in the inner sphere. "Where.. where did you find all those annihilators?"
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Oct 30, 2019 00:42
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rocketrobot posted:I'm okay with that. They're one of the cooler concepts from the pre-clan period. Although Natasha's depictions are way too over the top 80s nerd fantasy style. Speaking of, the depiction of other mercenary leaders in this game is so grotesquely fan-servicey, lol. Sorry, Morgan Kell, by the time I got around to you, my people had Tactics 9, and you were a goddamn drag on that whole mission. I know you're supposed to be "cool" because of books I didn't read, but you are objectively much worse at this business than my people.
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Oct 30, 2019 00:53
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rocketrobot posted:If the Annihilator is in UW, which model is it? I thought it was a 3050s mech Heavy Metal, not Urban Warfare. So far the only confirmed Annihilator variant is the 1A.
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Oct 30, 2019 00:54
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Phrosphor posted:It was one of the biggest red flags that something was weird about the dragoons. They brought over a bunch of 'old' mechs that had died out in the inner sphere. Huh? There was some static there, please repeat. *hastily hides all of the Annihilators in a periphery storage location* The whatnows?
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Oct 30, 2019 00:55
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Taerkar posted:Huh? There was some static there, please repeat. post av combo
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Oct 30, 2019 01:04
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When the Dragoons were first introduced to the storyline, was their Clan background already plotted out or was that decided on later when the Clan invasion storyline was being drafted? Basically, did the writers already have their backstory and the whole Clan timeline planned in advance? E: Norton the First posted:Speaking of, the depiction of other mercenary leaders in this game is so grotesquely fan-servicey, lol. Sorry, Morgan Kell, by the time I got around to you, my people had Tactics 9, and you were a goddamn drag on that whole mission. I know you're supposed to be "cool" because of books I didn't read, but you are objectively much worse at this business than my people. If you're playing with mods, get the Kell mod. He's back in his Archer and his stats are appropriately near-godlike. He carried my rear end in that last Flashpoint mission. anakha fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 01:04
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Frigging dragons debated wether mercenaries would have their own attendant warship fleets loving lol they did not come close to guessing how much chaos was gonna happen in the succession wars
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Oct 30, 2019 01:04
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anakha posted:When the Dragoons were first introduced to the storyline, was their Clan background already plotted out or was that decided on later when the Clan invasion storyline was being drafted? As I recall, they'd laid the SLDF returning background in there, and hinted at it with Natasha Kerensky and the Star League era 'mechs, but I'm pretty sure the form that the Clans would take was something they decided relatively late in the process.
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Oct 30, 2019 01:21
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anakha posted:When the Dragoons were first introduced to the storyline, was their Clan background already plotted out or was that decided on later when the Clan invasion storyline was being drafted? Does he get an ECM charge for no apparent reason?
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Oct 30, 2019 01:39
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Conspiratiorist posted:Does he get an ECM charge for no apparent reason? No, but his evasion was sky-high compared to my other Mechwarriors (Piloting was at 11, IIRC) which made him incredibly hard to hit. It works better at mimicking the Phantom Mech ability than an ECM charge would, IMO. At least you could still fire at him. anakha fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 02:00
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Now that we have the Annihilator coming I will have 3/4 of a 400-ton dream-team. Give us the Fafnir HBS. Do it. A Fafnir fell into a time-hole and landed in my mechbay. DO IT.
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Oct 30, 2019 02:29
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Pornographic Memory posted:between the anni and flea, plus all the other lostech, i'm betting the wolf's dragoons feature fairly prominently in the new DLC We know this. It's one flashpoint. From https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/10/19/battletech-going-old-school-with-heavy-metal-expansion/ "Two old characters, the Bounty Hunter and Black Widow of Wolf’s Dragoons, on one new Flashpoint thread focused on a derelict cargo ship which has drifted in from deep space." Erd fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 02:42
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Phrosphor posted:It was one of the biggest red flags that something was weird about the dragoons. They brought over a bunch of 'old' mechs that had died out in the inner sphere. anakha posted:When the Dragoons were first introduced to the storyline, was their Clan background already plotted out or was that decided on later when the Clan invasion storyline was being drafted? Kerensky and the SLDF's fate was a plot point Weisman always intended to explore at some later time, but that came right after the initial 4th War arc when they made a bunch of radically different mechs for the Virtual World simulation pods that didn't really look or operate like anything the Houses had. So they created the Clans and had them invade to explain omnimechs.
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Oct 30, 2019 03:05
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anakha posted:It works better at mimicking the Phantom Mech ability than an ECM charge would, IMO. At least you could still fire at him. I took the whole "your phantom mech won't save you this time!" line as a good reason to cheese the whole thing with the Raven. gently caress lunar missions.
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Oct 30, 2019 03:13
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What do I do with a thunderbolt?
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Oct 30, 2019 04:02
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Toss it in storage and forget about it?
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Oct 30, 2019 04:03
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Lawman 0 posted:What do I do with a thunderbolt? Depends what else you have. Its a good heavy until you get an orion or grasshopper to be your dedicated brawler. If you have lots of heavies its a nice little couple mill payday
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Oct 30, 2019 04:26
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They're perfectly serviceable. They're not best of breed, but they'll easily outstrip the garbage heavies and anything lighter in a straight up fight, and they can pack enough firepower to take out assaults without too much work on the player's part.
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Oct 30, 2019 04:38
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My 2nd playthrough had weird mechs appearing so i went from 3 thunderbolts and royallander to stalker/lowlander/marshlander/royallander
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Oct 30, 2019 04:48
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Lawman 0 posted:What do I do with a thunderbolt? Which variant? TDR-5S - Jumpjets, SRMs, Mlas, MGs TDR-5SE - Jumpjets, SRMs, Mlas, MGs TDR-5SS - Jumpjets, shitload of Mlas, MGs Generally Thunderbolts play like budget-Grasshoppers. They're good at flanking & backstabbing. Horace Kinch fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 05:05
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Beat the campaign in XLRP. Final lance was the SLDF Highlander, Corsair (these things are pretty op, like a much more common demi-King Crab), Longbow (60 LRM volleys isn't enough to Unstable a Heavy in 1 volley in this mod though, are they still op in vanilla?) and the classic Grasshopper with MLs and MG's. Gotta admit I'm super impressed by the quality of most community models. They almost all look sweet. Thinking I'll do 3025 CE next.
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Oct 30, 2019 05:26
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The TDR-5SE is a death machine on par with the Grasshopper. Other Thunderbolts aren't as good, but they're okay.
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Oct 30, 2019 05:33
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Last time i tried doing stab damage with lrms was a waste of time but that was 10 months ago so it may have changed. I went 100% max damage rating lrms since then
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Oct 30, 2019 05:37
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The TBolt would be a much scarier opfor mech if all the stock loadouts didnt have CT ammo. Lorewise its supposed to be a brick shithouse that you drop into the worst scenarios to establish a beachead.
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Oct 30, 2019 06:21
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Phrosphor posted:The TBolt would be a much scarier opfor mech if all the stock loadouts didnt have CT ammo. The combination of taking out engine and gyro crits and giving everyone CASE made a lot of stock ammo placement decisions go from intelligent to idiotic
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Oct 30, 2019 06:46
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blackmongoose posted:The combination of taking out engine and gyro crits and giving everyone CASE made a lot of stock ammo placement decisions go from intelligent to idiotic play roguetech
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Oct 30, 2019 06:49
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blackmongoose posted:The combination of taking out engine and gyro crits and giving everyone CASE made a lot of stock ammo placement decisions go from intelligent to idiotic Any ammo placement that isn't in the legs is mechanically idiotic. Though for the AI opfor it'd make them easier to salvage so ST ammo is okay in that sense.
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Oct 30, 2019 07:55
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I got the 5SS
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Oct 30, 2019 11:37
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Just realized I basically made a full MLas  lance
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Oct 30, 2019 11:38
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