SPOILER : Answering the question , 'Can we use more than 1 lance?'.

[AikenAidan]

Many posters have said No you only can field 1 lance. This is true for almost all of the game up untill the Final Priority mission. Then you get told to ready for a prolonged battle where you will field Multiple Lances.

Now since I spent all my time using 3 pilots and myself thru all the story so far this was a shock. And after you get that warning to ready multiple lances every system chnages from 1/2 skull 1 sull 1.1/2 skull etc etc all to 4 skull to 5 skull planets. This left me unable to train the new pilots that I have to skill up. No missions to fit thier skill levels [ 2 3 2 2 , 2 2 5 2 , etc].

This has forced me to Scrap the Long played campagn , and start anew. [the 5th run thru.] I am not even sure I want to bother with all the bugs that are still in the game aggrevating us with shoddy mission design , Tinny maps [yes they get smaller], and the ever annoying camera that goes where you don't want it to go durring play regardless of the settings. [ I just love being locked into staring at a rock far from the battle. Always tracking the enemy , and never tracking me. The ETC's are a long list.

SO for those of you that wanted to know Yes Veronica there is a Mission with multiple lances. Be prepaired [to save CBills mothball your extra 8 mechs untill the last mission , but you will still be paying those extra Pilots every month].

[virtualperson]

Does it actually let you field and control all 8, or is it 2 missions that run concurrently so it requires 2 different teams?

[EarlOfNoobton]

Do you actually play several lances at the same time or do you play one part with Lance A and then switch to lance B? (Can't be bothered to continue the main campaign, since it bores me to tears tbh)

[wesnef]

Originally posted by virtualperson:

Does it actually let you field and control all 8, or is it 2 missions that run concurrently so it requires 2 different teams?

The second. They just want you to have backups in case your first round team gets mangled. (personally, I made it through without even any internal structure damage on any mechs. I didn't even need my extra pilots or mechs.)


Aaaanyway, I was still able to train up new pilots without starting over. The argo's training pods can get someone up to 5/5/5/5 (roughly). And if you have an LRM mech that hangs back, you can easily 'carry' a low-end pilot in hard missions, while your three other mechs slaughter all in their path.

There's no need to "scrap the long played campaign" and start over.

(no need to save up c-bills for expenses, either. I've been going the whole time with ~7 pilots and 7-9 ready mechs, and have 56mil c-bills in the bank. Still on my first playthrough of the campaign. No bugs, no pilots killed except for Dekker at the beginning. /shrug)

[AikenAidan]

Originally posted by virtualperson:

Does it actually let you field and control all 8, or is it 2 missions that run concurrently so it requires 2 different teams?

I don't know I don't have more than 4 mechs to test it out.

And since the previous commenter says it can be done with 1 lance. I guess I can give it a go. Was just about to start a new campaign.. Thanks.

I am amazed with your totals of CBills. I actually spent 20million CBs in Pay Bonuses to get Moral to 50, just to find out that when you get the Argo to play with there are addons that increase the moral. Otherwise I would have had over 60mill at this point. The only Asault mechs I have compleated is the Highlander ,and an Orion. But I do have 2/3 of every other low to mid level assault mech in Storage.

[Rob'sEvilTwin]

You only control 4 mechs at a time, it is wise to have 8 mechs and 8 Pilots ready.

I run with two full lances of Mechs and pilots for the whole campaing, alternating between them.
On my 3rd playthrough, I have 8 pilots with 10/10/10/10 and haven't made it to the final contract yet.

[AikenAidan]

So when they say "Be ready to field multiple lances" they are Obfuscating.. [ boy cow poop]

[avaririot]

I always had a bcakup team ready anyways, injuries happen and you never know who will be out for a couple weeks. The last mission is disappointingly easy.

[DiceWrangler]

(Since this thread is already titled "SPOILER". . .)

I finished the last mission using 4 pilots and 4 mechs. It is a 2-part mission with no time to heal or repair between parts but you can swap pilots or mechs. The first part is with Kamea and her Atlas ][ so you only need 3 pilots and 3 mechs for the first part. For the second part, only one of my mechs was damaged (just armor, actually, not even any structural damage so I could have kept it in the line-up) and one of my "A-Team" pilots was on the bench (for the 1st part) anyway.


Next time I play through, I expect to have a maximum of 5 mechs and 5 pilots so I have a backup mech and pilot standing-by to reduce repair and heal downtime but any more than that is, probably, a waste of expenses for maintenance and salaries. That said, I wish the game encouraged you to maintain more than one lance of mechs and pilots; possibly by increasing repair and heal times?

[wesnef]

Originally posted by Sick&Tired:

I am amazed with your totals of CBills. I actually spent 20million CBs in Pay Bonuses to get Moral to 50, just to find out that when you get the Argo to play with there are addons that increase the moral. Otherwise I would have had over 60mill at this point. The only Asault mechs I have compleated is the Highlander ,and an Orion. But I do have 2/3 of every other low to mid level assault mech in Storage.

Hmm, yeah. I never put my funding above "normal". Even if I hadn't built all the Argo upgrades, I probably got around 50-100 morale worth of Good Events while traveling around (of course, some of those were boosted by the Argo upgrades. Like needing Hydroponics for the Triple-F Burgers)

Beyond the Highlander they gave you, I've got 2 more Highlanders, an Atlas, 3 King Crabs, a Victor, an Awesome, I sold a few Banshees (edit: ooh, and a Battlemaster, 2 Stalkers, probably forgetting something).... maybe I just ran around doing more side missions? Hmm, looking at my save file, I finished the final story mission in week 310, with my commander having 147 deployments (192 mech kills, 105 other, 24 injuries taken).

[Wantoomany]

Originally posted by DiceWrangler:

The first part is with Kamea and her Atlas ][ so you only need 3 pilots and 3 mechs for the first part. [/quote]

No, This is wrong. You get Kamea on the second mission. The first mission will have you take out up to 12 mechs, 4 at a time. You need to deal with the initial defenders then two seperate reinforcement waves will show up. As long as you get control of the turrets early the mission is a cakewalk.

The second mission is an arena battle, and you are forced to take Kamea along. So even if you manage to get a damaged mech or injured pilot in the previous mission. You can still field a full lance for the final fight. The final fight is a litteral stright up 4v4 battle. No adds, no vehicles, no reinforcements, no turrets, and no surprises.

[ReignEdaze]

Originally posted by Wantoomany:

The final fight is a litteral stright up 4v4 battle. No adds, no vehicles, no reinforcements, no turrets, and no surprises.

And waaaaaaaaaay too easy. First time i did it with full assaults I was severely disappointed.
After watching some 'challenge' mode playthroughs on the youtubes, i retried it with 2 mediums, 1 light and kamea, much more fun!
This was my inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH7_Tc5D3jY&t=5310s

[Senkoau]

I'm currently running a half million per month company and I've only just taken on an extra pilot (as opposed to a replacement for those killed) may need to start looking to recruit another 3 for a backup lance.

[zAcEz]

You actually dont need "muliple lances". Just enough to replace those that get taken out during the first mission. You can bring damaged mechs, but you cant bring injured pilots. Because Kamea is locked to go for the final mission, even if you take 1 injury, you actually can complete with just 1 lance

[ReignEdaze]

Originally posted by zAcEz:

You actually dont need "muliple lances". Just enough to replace those that get taken out during the first mission. You can bring damaged mechs, but you cant bring injured pilots. Because Kamea is locked to go for the final mission, even if you take 1 injury, you actually can complete with just 1 lance

don't need spoiler tags in a thread titled "SPOILER" when its directly related to the OP just fyi.
but yeh, correct :)

[Straybow]

It is still true if people mean can I control more then 4 mech on a single mission, you still cannot do it in the base game. The final section of the game has two mission that occur, one occurring after the other. So yes having more then four pilots and four mechs is probably not a bad idea, and no you can only control four on the field at a time.