ho0w to defend against/beat mechanoids, they are just cheating-strong

[Perahoky]

hello,

these mechanoids are unfair. They are immune against EMP and every shoot is a hit. thats not fair.
How to beat them? i getting attacked by 20 of them. They are increidely strong and kill my colonists by 2 hits.

[Hykal]

Bolt action rifles are easier to get, have greater range than ARs. It just means you have to kite a bit longer due to ROF.

[BananaBread]

Immune to EMP? you mean in terms of they take no damage from it? cuz that would be correct, EMP's don't "kill" anything on their own, they are a support tool, they stun, after which they temporarily adapt before becoming stunnable again (tbf i struggle to use EMP's properly, but that's due to lazy-ness) if you're being killed in 2 hits, 1 of 2 things is true
you're trying to take ranged battles with lancers/pikemen/centipede
you're going unarmored into melee fights with scythers, the mechanoid faction if you're getting 20 of them, you're progressing into the lategame depending on your difficulty settings and you should have the tools available to deal with them somewhat consistantly, on most difficulties if you DIE to a specific raid, it's due to a lack of preparation more often then not, not saying "get gud", just more "learn from the death" if you struggle with mechanoid raids, Uranium maces will help you if you can get into melee, smoke-pop will give you cover, EMP will stun them, BLUNT damage is by far the strongest against mechanoids, Psycasting if you have royalty, your own mechs if you got biotech, the list goes on. dont enter a knife fight against a minigun carrying centipede, wear flak armor or even recon/marine armor, make Devilstrand clothing to help mitigate damage taken as much as you can.
that's the end of my blob of text

[cAPTN cAPSLOCK]

A bit late to the party, but it really is important to know your mechs. I truly do not recall how fighting mechs is like without Combat Extended or other combat mods active. My advice will probably only hold up for vanilla to a certain extent.

But all the small mechs are highly susceptible to armor piercing small arms fire. Assault rifles on burst and snipers (Big booms obviously work as well). The big lads and the snipers need to be engaged in melee combat. They can still hurt but comparatively suck ass in melee. To achieve that I tend to build wooden walls around the map with single openings and camp my melees just behind the gap. Usually the noobish mechs will single file through and get a can of whoop-ass opened on them. I tend to have a heavily armored pawn with shield belt and melee shield tanking the mechs.

For mech drops I usually also build wooden walls around them where I can to limit firing lines and egress points for the spawning mechs. It is important to use the zone management tool to prohibit certain areas in a mech drop location so that pawns don't activate the proximity sensors. As others mentioned, smoke is your friend. Once a drop has been cleared of mobile mechs, blanket that mother in smoke (mortar, grenades, smokepop belts, etc.) and rush in with melees.

[Locklave]

Cheese them with emp or use countless cheese mods.

You know my solution to the Mech problem to prevent cheese solutions? Remove the Mech faction in the world settings.

I didn't like them when they got added to the game and I like them even less these days. The solution used to be, before steam, cheesing them by exploiting their weapon aim timer and line of site.

[Laurie]

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be more balanced. Its up to you what sort of playthrough you wish, some people like a more fantasy battle in games, others do not. Personally I prefer things like small arms fire does not penetrate armour that is an inch or two thick, but is very lethal to non-armoured opponents.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Perahoky:

...
How to beat them?..

With most events in Rimworld, the advice is going only be as valuable as your ability to implement it and the resources you have on hand. Variables... matter, too. I don't know the terrain you've got, for instance.

For "crashed ship" mechs, forward defense matters. So, for example, if I had the time and resources, I'd take some turret(s), which I would have kept for the purposes of a "mobile turret emplacement" defense, and a couple of full batteries and a switch (maybe), and would build a small, protected, turret emplacement between my base and the ship. If time permitted, I could even build a temporary bunker within range of those turrets, but put walls in the way of the fire lanes of those turrets so they couldn't sweep my own hasty bunker... Traps are bonus here, too, so the front/sides of the bunker would have plenty. Fire-poppers in the firing positions = a must-have.

There'd be a fast-runner grenadier with EMP grenades and heavy weapons pawns if I had them and a clear lane of retreat with plenty of cover my pawns could use. (Obviously, this is heavily focused on "hastily prepared positions." You might not have those luxuries/resources)

I'd pop the ship, with whatever was needed, and most of the mechs would end up agro'ing the turrets, at first. I'd have room enough for mortars to fairly safely fire on them - It doesn't matter if they hit the turrets since the wires would be in the protective wall and the turrets are going to get damaged/destroyed, anyway. (Batteries would be walled in, too.) Long-range weaps fired from the bunker would open up and I'd make a judgement call on when I needed to retreat. On retreat, everyone bugs out and moves to the secondary positions by first moving behind a protective wall and then moving on back to base. Mechs hit the traps, slow down a bit, while I then try to micro what mortar fire I can.

That's my standard crashed-ship forward, hasty, defense. I've used it countless times. What matters the most is that whatever survives that defensive emplacement is at the very least wounded and hopefully slowed down a bit by the time they reach my much more sensitive fall-back position at the main base. (That's where I'd focus much more robust action, like melee fighters and the like. Though, they could act before that if truly necessary.)

But, maybe you didn't have such time and resources? If not, then the takeaway is "get damage on them ASAP, even if it just slows them down and strings them out." The biggest dangers come when they are all able to mob you all at once, for scythers, and when you can't damage the components or EMP the big mechs and they have area/big weapons. So... at the very least, hastily construct as many traps in their likely paths as you can. If you can string them out, even by breaking up their paths with blocks, you'll be better able to pick them off.

PS: Mechs are a hard-case enemy - They're supposed to be intimidating. So, if you find them difficult, be reassured that others do, too. :)

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Laurie:

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be less balanced.

Fixed that for you.

[Wantoomany]

Originally posted by Laurie:

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be more balanced. Its up to you what sort of playthrough you wish, some people like a more fantasy battle in games, others do not. Personally I prefer things like small arms fire does not penetrate armour that is an inch or two thick, but is very lethal to non-armoured opponents.

So your suggested solution, to a person who has trouble with mechs, due to lack of equipment and adequate infrastructure, is to introduce a mod that turns mechs in a very binary equipment check. You either have AP or you die. If they cant pass the equipment check for normal mechs, why would you think they can pass the equipment check for CE mechs?

[Steelfleece]

Originally posted by Wantoomany:

Originally posted by Laurie:

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be more balanced. Its up to you what sort of playthrough you wish, some people like a more fantasy battle in games, others do not. Personally I prefer things like small arms fire does not penetrate armour that is an inch or two thick, but is very lethal to non-armoured opponents.

So your suggested solution, to a person who has trouble with mechs, due to lack of equipment and adequate infrastructure, is to introduce a mod that turns mechs in a very binary equipment check. You either have AP or you die. If they cant pass the equipment check for normal mechs, why would you think they can pass the equipment check for CE mechs?

You're typing to an individual whose solution to every issue is installing CE.

[Hykal]

If you installed Combat Extended into your game, you will solve world hunger. - CE fans

Originally posted by Wantoomany:

Originally posted by Laurie:

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be more balanced. Its up to you what sort of playthrough you wish, some people like a more fantasy battle in games, others do not. Personally I prefer things like small arms fire does not penetrate armour that is an inch or two thick, but is very lethal to non-armoured opponents.

So your suggested solution, to a person who has trouble with mechs, due to lack of equipment and adequate infrastructure, is to introduce a mod that turns mechs in a very binary equipment check. You either have AP or you die. If they cant pass the equipment check for normal mechs, why would you think they can pass the equipment check for CE mechs?

CE fans are not known for their intelligence. If you've got a problem with your car, they will suggest buying a new one over sending it to a mechanic.

[Hykal]

Originally posted by Locklave:

Cheese them with emp or use countless cheese mods.

You know my solution to the Mech problem to prevent cheese solutions? Remove the Mech faction in the world settings.

I didn't like them when they got added to the game and I like them even less these days. The solution used to be, before steam, cheesing them by exploiting their weapon aim timer and line of site.

This is just as bad as suggesting someone to install a mod. The game literally gives you multiple tools on how to deal with it.

Skill issue.

[Laurie]

Originally posted by Wantoomany:

Originally posted by Laurie:

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be more balanced. Its up to you what sort of playthrough you wish, some people like a more fantasy battle in games, others do not. Personally I prefer things like small arms fire does not penetrate armour that is an inch or two thick, but is very lethal to non-armoured opponents.

So your suggested solution, to a person who has trouble with mechs, due to lack of equipment and adequate infrastructure, is to introduce a mod that turns mechs in a very binary equipment check. You either have AP or you die. If they cant pass the equipment check for normal mechs, why would you think they can pass the equipment check for CE mechs?

AP is not necessarily the best type of ammo to my knowledge. Its the last resort for the mechs with the really thick armour. Not sure for Lancers and such because it does less damage. Then there is discarding sabot, which appears to be a bullet that passes straight through the mech with an entry and exit wound so most of the energy goes through rather than absorbed by the body so causes less damage. Kind of like sticking a needle through a sausage rather than hitting it with a hammer.

[Wantoomany]

Originally posted by Laurie:

Originally posted by Wantoomany:

So your suggested solution, to a person who has trouble with mechs, due to lack of equipment and adequate infrastructure, is to introduce a mod that turns mechs in a very binary equipment check. You either have AP or you die. If they cant pass the equipment check for normal mechs, why would you think they can pass the equipment check for CE mechs?

AP is not necessarily the best type of ammo to my knowledge. Its the last resort for the mechs with the really thick armour. Not sure for Lancers and such because it does less damage. Then there is discarding sabot, which appears to be a bullet that passes straight through the mech with an entry and exit wound so most of the energy goes through rather than absorbed by the body so causes less damage. Kind of like sticking a needle through a sausage rather than hitting it with a hammer.

How does that change anything what I said? Call it what you prefer, AP, sabot, magic-sparkle-dust. It's still a hard gear check, so it's completely useless advise for this particular situation.

[Hykal]

Cancer Extended lmao

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by Laurie:

If you download the Combat Extended mod, it will be more balanced.

Hehehehehehe.....

...oh...
Wait...
...you really believe that?

Allow me to laugh harder.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!