Hmm. I've booted it up to sort my controllers out - quite an effort to do so. Annoyingly, I can't get it to do quite what I want. Ah well, I've been playing Black Mesa instead. Might have another stab next weekend as I want to concentrate on other things.
I LOVED mechwarrior online, despite all of its (many) faults. Great gameplay. However - with the AI being so bad, I don't really understand how this game can be fun?
N...N...N...NECRO! So, decided this would be the game I try to complete this year before inevitably going back to Lego. I've already written some thoughts in the 'What are you playing now?' thread, but thought I'd expand upon it a bit. Firstly, I don't quite know why, but the game absolutely hooks me, to the point that last weekend I had about 10 hours' sleep total and probably about 25-30 hours game time added to the tally - the longest single stint, I didn't physically move for 10 hours after having my morning coffee. It's not as though the game is well polished or anything, but getting that extra little bit of equipment or finally salvaging/purchasing that next 'mech with a good loadout capability keeps me going. I've played a bit through the main campaign, though am putting that on hold to play the DLC 'Legend of the Kestrel Lancers'. I wanted to just write down a little guide more than anything, so here goes: EDIT 01/05/2022: After completing the game, I've updated the advice as some of it was wrong! General points Like any good 'gear acquisition' game, the start is slow, but once things are up and running, earning potential rockets. Don't worry about making money - it's easy to dip in and out of conflict zones Always buy hero 'mechs if they pop up. Non-campaign missions are randomly generated and always available, so only pick ones that you think are worth the effort and then move on to the next system - I typically only play one mission per system, and moving on allows additional time for repairs.. Try to build up a collection of 7-8 good mechs ASAP so you can have 3-4 repairing and the others in use in a constant cycle - it's the most efficient way to make money time-wise. For mission rewards, it's almost always better to go for as many salvage points as possible - selling a salvaged 'mech is more profitable than going straight up for a higher money payout from the mission. I think that the most reliable way to bring an enemy 'mech down is to kill its legs - the torso has a lot of armour, headshots only really work once you have access to high damage single shot weapons, and you also seem much more likely to be able to get a 'mech as salvage afterwards. General 'mech outfitting Double heatsinks are RARE early on. keep them for player use only at the start. Personally, I find that maxing a 'mech's armour is the first priority, over taking more guns. It seems that single shot autocannons are more effective than burst fire autocannons, though I'd always go with whatever's higher tier. Jump jets, as cool as thy are, don't really seem to offer anything, other than a little bit of an advantage on some specific missions. Strip them out and put in more heat sinks or ammo. Save time and effort on outfitting a 'mech by moving it to 'cold storage' and back - this strips all weapons and equipment for free, allowing you a fresh template to work from. Be aware that unfortunately this also srips any passive upgrades added. AI pilots and outfitting When hiring pilots, concentrate on ones that have the ability to go to higher levels. In the vanilla game, level 60 is the max. Avoid pilots that in the description seem to have character flaws - for example, pilots that are described as 'wanting to play the hero' always seem to end up getting in your way as they charge in (the dopey gits). Don't know if this truly matters or not, but the general consensus on my internet travels is that it has an impact. Keep at least 6 AI pilots - injuries take many days to recover from, and the mechanism behind when a pilot gets injured or not seems a bit random - I've had pilots uninjured after losing pretty much everything on a 'mech, but also had pilots injured after coming back with a 'mech that only needed light repairs. The AI has an uncanny ability to lose arms - avoid putting weapon in them if you can, or put the lowest tier weapons you have in so it doesn't matter if you do lose them. Later on, when you have access to the largest 'mechs (i.e. Atlas, King Crab), this can be relaxed. Broadly speaking, the AI seems to do better with long range, high damage, low RoF weapons. Here's a rough list of what seems to be: Excellent AI weapons: LRM, PPC, AC10 (in preferred order). Good AI weapons: AC20. Bad AI weapons: Small lasers, AC2, AC5, anything short ranged. Weapon groups for AI 'mechs is REALLY IMPORTANT for controlling their behaviour. Not only does it set the order of priority, but you can remove behaviour. For example, I always take out melee weapons as an option as it stops the AI rushing forward (probably). Typically I set up AI fire groups like this: Group 1: LRMs. Group 2: PPCs (if present, otherwise AC10). Group 3: AC10 (if present, otherwise Medium lasers). Group 4: Medium lasers. AI plots should really be used as meat shields and missile/long range platforms, so durable 'mechs are best for them. 'Mechs the AI seems to have the most survivability with: Centurion - don't be afraid to stick a weapon in the right arm. Thunderbolt - as above. Orion. Charger (CGR-1A5 variant) - arms fly off this thing, but manages to last otherwise. Fill it up with a bucket load of ammo. Anything in the 100 tonne range. In the middle of a battle, the AI can be a little bit like herding cats. To keep them close, I keep telling my lance to 'Form on me', which seems to get them to keep close and they still fire on the enemy. Another good tactic to keep AI pilots under control is to get them to go to a location (where you are pointing) and then lure enemies to them - seems to be a good way to quickly bring down opposing 'mechs. To be fair, the AI is pretty okay at killing enemies - putting them in larger 'mechs while you run around in a scout/light 'mech is a good tactic (and one I used towards the start of the game). Your personal battlemech Kinda goes without saying, but tailor your own mech to your playing style! It's good to use different weapon systems as there's an RPG element to your player character - you gain more damage by using different classes of weapons. So, sometimes focus on ballistics, other times energy weapons, and other times, missiles/rockets. Hero 'mechs really shine in a competent player's hands. For example, the Hero Javelin, despite only being a 30 tonne mech, can easily get behind much larger 'mechs and tear them slowly to pieces, even punching them to death if your piloting skills are on point. I don't know if I'm just a rubbish shot or not, but PPCs really seem hard to hit things with. Avoid IMO, though the AI does just fine with them. LRMs are a bit of a waste on your own 'mech as more focussed weapons can be used with greater effect. Still worth using every now and again to boost your missile skill level. SRMs on the other hand are brilliant. Want a hard hitting brawler mech that can't fit an AC20? Strap on a few SRMs and get in the enemy's face. It's good to consider being effective at long and short range - one of my favourite mid game builds builds is a Hero Orion that has 3 Large Lasers and three SRM6s - this allows me to cause a decent amount of damage at range and be a real threat if enemies get up close. Avoid the Annihilator. It's painfully slow and seems to get torn to pieces (probably because nothing misses it on account of its baseline 32KPH speed). Hopefully at some point a hero version will be added in a DLC that makes this 'mech actually usable.
Another DLC incoming. Truth be told, I'm done with the game after having completed the main campaign, but I may dip my toes back in when this lands, if anything just for the chance to dual wield maces and smash the bejesus out of other 'mechs in melee.
