What super-rare items have you found? (Possible Spoilers)

[Talys]

Here are a list of the exceptionally rare items that I've encountered, and without giving too much away, where:

- Highlander 932B - Campaign-only. I've never seen one of these spawn elsewhere.
- Atlas II - There are Atlas as regular spawns, but the II I've only ever seen from the Campagin.

- Gauss Gun & Gauss Ammo - Campaign, on the Highlander 932B
- ER Large Laser - Campaign, on the Atlas II
- M Pulse (Laser) - Campaign, on the Atlas II
- M Pulse (Laser) - Random loot on last Campaign mission
- Heat Sink (D) - Campaign, on the Highlander 932B and on the Atlas II

- Exchanger+ (15%) - I've only ever seen this in a store, once. I haven't seen a ++ yet.
- Heat Bank+ (+20 Max Heat, +10 overheat) - I've only ever seen this in a store, once. No ++ yet either.

Very rare drops - probably because they aren't on many mechs:

- LRM5+++ - these just don't drop for me!! I only own one :(
- AC/10+++ - these seem like they're very rare drops. I've not had many.
- Urbanmech - I don't think I've ever seen one. Could be wrong or missed it in the store.

To put it in perspective, the other "Equipment", like TTS, Rangefinders, Gyros, Arm & Leg mods, Comm Systems and Cockpit Mods... I have more of the top versions than I could ever mount onto mechs.

[Talys]

Originally posted by Maso:

I put over 100 hours into the campaign. I don't exactly call that "blowing through the campaign." I took my sweet time. You can enjoy all the aspects of sandbox, mech tweaking, exploration, upgrades, all that fun stuff to your heart's content before finishing it all up. Just because there are 100x more identical systems with identical missions to go to doesn't mean the campaign "opens up" post-campaign. Don't kid yourself.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what this game evolves into over the year. But I was critiquing the replayability of the game for what it is now, not what it might be.

I think that if you got a hundred hours out of the game and enjoyed it' that's not bad value :) For me, I've gotten significantly more than that already, and I'm sure that this will be one of the higher-hours TBS games I've come across, probably along the lines of an X-COM title. BattleTech will definitely not get as many hours as a Civilization title, and I don't think I'd really enjoy restarting many times (especially since there is no story variation).

Compared to X-COM, I prefer that once the story is done, I can keep on playing.

Some people enjoy the gear grind, and others don't. Personally, I think the maps, planets and missions are varied enough let me get more than that out of it, and 24 berths is a lot of slots to level up :) But that's just me.

I happen to like testing different mechs and pilots and trying ideas, even if I know they won't be superstars.

The super-rare loot is kind of a treat, because when you wander across something you've wanted for a long time, it's like, "wow wow wow!" When I started this thread, it was mostly about that, and whether there were any other pieces of loot that I hadn't ever seen, as I did not see a heat bank until I was very far into the game.

[SertanDoom]

Originally posted by wesnef:

Originally posted by Talys:

Yes, I agree. In my opinion, this game is about map tactics, build-testing mechs, loot collecting, and map/planet exploration.

It does have some Diablo & Pokemon aspects to it - wander around killing stuff, collect mechs, find cool loot, equip it, repeat.

Gotta Salvage em all :D

[Sentient_Toaster]

I wouldn't mind mission chains that led to the cultivating of sources (abstract them as earned tags on a system, say, which could then be used to fire events) which would make extremely rare gear a bit more available. Maybe running down SLDF caches, pirates hoarding some, w/e. One issue is that in the "pirates hoarding" scenario, they should be *used*, which is potentially a little tricky to work into the chassis/mech/salvage system probably.

I've gotten a heat exchanger+ and a heat bank++ in stores while looping between Yuris, Victoria and Hurik (which all have decent tag sets and high-rating missions in the post-campaign)... but randomly finding loot in a store and buying it isn't really *earning* it in any satisfying way.

You can buy Urbanmech parts occasionally for sale. I believe that they're pretty much universally blacklisted from lance compositions so you will never fight one.

[L37]

Still did not find single heat exchanger or heat bank, having visited most of the systems, salvaged more mechs and "common" rare weapons like AC20+++, SRM6+++, etc than i know what to do with. +++ cockpit mods and gyros are quite common too. Apart from elusive heat exchangers and heat banks things that remain scarce for some reason are +10 damage smaller AC-s (mainly AC5), +10 damage SL-s and +4 damage SRM4-s.

Lostech from the story... i would not really consider it "rare" as you are guaranteed to get it, it is just one of a kind/unique.

[Talys]

Originally posted by L37:

Still did not find single heat exchanger or heat bank, having visited most of the systems, salvaged more mechs and "common" rare weapons like AC20+++, SRM6+++, etc than i know what to do with. +++ cockpit mods and gyros are quite common too. Apart from elusive heat exchangers and heat banks things that remain scarce for some reason are +10 damage smaller AC-s (mainly AC5), +10 damage SL-s and +4 damage SRM4-s.

Lostech from the story... i would not really consider it "rare" as you are guaranteed to get it, it is just one of a kind/unique.

Sadly, the LosTech energy weapons are not that great, because you can't get it +++. The Extended Range Large Laser is not really competitive with the regular LL+++, unless you really, really want a laser with the range. Even then, why not take a PPC+++? The Medium Pulse Laser doesn't compete with the ML+++ at all, because you miss out on the buffs, and it weighs more.

[Langkard]

I've seen Urbies for sale on Hellespont, down in the far southeast part of the Taurian Concordat and also in a shop on a planet next to the Davion border (don't recall which one) in the far northeast of the Concordat.

Heat banks and heat exchangers seem to appear in Concordat shops more often than elsewhere, but that could simply be confirmation bias on my part.

[ReignEdaze]

I wouldn't say this was amazing or super rare loot but for a 3 skull mission that I took no structural damage or injuries on it was pretty nice, especially since this particular play through is fairly fresh still, don't have a million mods and pro weapons like my other saves yet.
https://imgur.com/a/v4A2vnY

[wesnef]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

I wouldn't mind mission chains that led to the cultivating of sources (abstract them as earned tags on a system, say, which could then be used to fire events) which would make extremely rare gear a bit more available. Maybe running down SLDF caches, pirates hoarding some, w/e. One issue is that in the "pirates hoarding" scenario, they should be *used*, which is potentially a little tricky to work into the chassis/mech/salvage system probably.

Yeah, on one hand more basic mission types like "rumor of pirate leader whose mech is more effective" or whatever, would be interesting.... but then I realised, if someone was hiring you to go after 'those guys who found an SLDF mech', they'd be hiring you to capture it For Them. :/

Just following a rumor yourself ("the Taurians have a suspiciously Well-Equipped lance on Backwater Prime", "there's a pirate whose mech is Too Good over near Nowhere") wouldn't be a contract, it's just being even more like an ARPG and running around punching people to take their stuff. ;)

[Atma]

Originally posted by JanaSzar:

Originally posted by Napalm1473:

edit: also to the OP. urbanmechs can only be found in "battlefield" or "manufacturing" in the capellan confederations system.

Not just Capellan; I usually find them in Taurian space.

I found 3 parts for an urby on sale on the starter planet, Ur Cruinne.

Was literally the first time I went to the store this campaign and there it was.

[ReignEdaze]

Originally posted by Atma:

Originally posted by JanaSzar:

Not just Capellan; I usually find them in Taurian space.

I found 3 parts for an urby on sale on the starter planet, Ur Cruinne.

Was literally the first time I went to the store this campaign and there it was.

Yeh i originally thought that mechs that have a "faction specific" manufacturer are ONLY available from that factions system, but after going over the jsons again it just makes them more likely there.

So since urbies have the tag "battlefield" and "manufacturing" they should be available on anywhere with those tags, however going to a cap fed planet with "manufacturing" should increase your chances

[Brother Sharazad]

X2 15% Thermal Exchangers (+), X1 20% Thermal Exchanger(++), X1 Heat Bank

I wont list the weapons as I use "Battletech - Enhanced" Mod, and it adds some differant +++ versions and the Lostech weapons to the shop files (Just as rare as the exchangers etc, and very costly)

[kaibarnard]

Finally got a +10dmg AC10 - and I've somehow gottena 2nd Gauss riffle - now need to find some ammo

[ReignEdaze]

Originally posted by kaibarnard:

Finally got a +10dmg AC10 - and I've somehow gottena 2nd Gauss riffle - now need to find some ammo

To get more gauss ammo you need to find a planet that has ALL 3 of these "research, rich, manufacturing" and they have a very low chance to sell gauss ammo. congrats on your 2nd rifle though, good find.

Yuris is the best planet to find that kind fo stuff. It has the highest amount of special item spawns at 9. Rare items usualyl havea rarity weight of 2, this means with 9 chances, weight of 2 and 1462 choices, thats a 0.012% to find the specific item you want, in the BEST planet.
good luck!! other good ones Hurik 8, Victoria 7, New Vandenburg 6

++ and +++ big weapons like AC10/20, PPC, LL, LRM/SRM etc you want to go to research, research+SLDF, but make sure it does not have manufacturing, because that turns it into something else. Sax, Niomede, Drozan, New Roland are the best ones, but anything with those tags are good

for ++ and +++ weapons of everything smaller than above you want to look for rich+manufacturing, try to avoid SLDF and research. Places with "Liao" are good for flamers and ac2/5
Good planets- Itrom, Mechdur, Laconis, Burton, Cluff's Strand, Claybrooke, Illiushin

Hope that didnt spoil the mystery for you!

[fade]

- Exchanger
- Heat Bank

150h+ playtime, almost through with my second campaign playthrough. Never ever saw one of those 2 items.
So in this regard, game design failed hard.

uh, also never ever got a single UrbanMech part

[danko9696]

The rarest items by far I think are the Heat Exchanger++, Heat Bank++ (also very good for some builds) and the Gauss Ammo. For that you may need first to save a good amount of money and then travelling a lot back and forth to scout for shops in the handful of planets they can show. And it's best to have a path past the planet you are interested so you don't automatically go into orbit but still can take a look into the store. If nothing good, go back (two planets away but stop at the first and come back again). If at any moment there is something worth it then change the destination to the local planet's orbit.

The second Gauss you can get it in one of the missions where the final boss has a King Crab with a Gauss. I realized that after reading it in the forums. Anyway for the moment is not very good compared to some autocannon ++/+++ versions.