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To be completely honest and spoiler, towards the end game you'll wish you had taken tactician and bulwark with every one of your pilots - regardless of what mechs they are in
Generically though, without knowing which mechs you're using and prefer, here's something to consider
DFS shooter:
I found multishot is situational for my playstyle. The way I found it useful was to hit three enemy mechs with accuracy debuff from triple PPC awesome. Apart form that, it didn't suit my playstyle
Breaching shot is not bad for a shooter but only really useful for the heavy hitting DF weapons eg AC20 doing stab damage is the main aim here
Bulwark - damage mitigation (trees + bulwark = <3)
IDFS (LRM boat):
Tactician - you want the ability to get your LRM boat in position to start laying down the stab damage or ability to shoot twice in a reserved round at end of round (if that makes sense ?)
Bulwark - because end game damage mitigation
LRMapult loaded with LRM15 and JJ's paired with a splatcat with SRM6 and JJ's is lol bait (note tacticians bonus for IDF). bait with Splatcat (splatcat (Catapult C4) is played like a striker), fire and move, while LRMapult is reserve turn to shoot twice next turn - splatcat SRM stab damage + the 2x salvoes of LRM20s (LRM40 really) cause the KD which the rest of lance can primary... again, this is just my playstyle
You can change up your LRMapult to an Awesome with 2xLRM20s with Stab damage (when you find them)
Brawler:
I have two builds that I find useful
lasboating
Bulwark - for damage mitigation once you're in melee range and rofl stomping
Vent - because triple PPC Awesome are awesome... or even a Death Star Stalker (large lasers)
Sure footing - because you went for venting
Ballistic/melee
Bulwark
Tactician
Striker:
now, there's two ways to do these
Fast cav involves tactician and evasion - this is your true fast cav.. JJ everywhere and lol as they miss.. make sure to use SRM's with this build - no lasers because you're using max JJ range
The other is Ace pilot with bulwark (bulwark for damage mitigation when cornered or when you need to stop for heat plus the other skills just suck for endgame... evasion is because you need to keep moving and keeping those ticks up - the more ticks the better)
I hope this helps
I build a Splatcat based on this pilot and use it as bait
For LRM boats I prefer Master Tactician instead of Multi-Breaching, although sure in Defense Base Multi is way better for aggroing but I don't feel it's necessary. I use LRMb for damage not knockdowns, so what I want is still focused damage. Still I consider Multi+Breaching a good choice. Besides this use (aggroing) I think Multishot is pretty much worthless, and Breaching can be decent with single weapon loadout but besides that I think it is not a good skill.
For heavies and most mediums the best skill IMO by far is Ace Pilot. For direct damage assaults the choice is harder to make because MT is very highly desirable too, but AP still helps you to maintain optimal distance. With MT mostly the ideal would be all mechs in the lance in phase two or better so you can have all of them before most assaults.
I think I might switch up the following
2 Mechs
Master Tactician + Guts
Main guns would be AC20's for powerful Better Called Shots. I think Master Tac trumps out Breach shot for this build.
1 LasMech
Vent + Bulwark + Sure Footing
Would Medium, Large or PPS's be better? I like PPS due to Destabalise but I was hoping for a kinda short range mech so maybe Med Las?
1 LRM Boat
Multishot (mainly because the game already gave Glitch this talent) + Master Tactician
Personally not a fan of Ace Pilot, not because it's not a good still but because not really my playstyle.
If you only have an AC20 as the only weapon then Breaching Shot is very good. In an assault then sure, MT all the way.
PPCs have very low damage/weight/heat efficiency, and also plays a lot different than a shorter range setup, so you may want to choose first the range and after that what weapon do you want. In general the more range the less efficient the weapon is but there are exceptions.
LLs are very good, in particular LL+++, because they have both +dmg and +accuracy. Also they have enough range to take full advantage of a Rangefinder+++, super useful for long range direct damage mechs.
Medium Lasers are excellent weapons, super efficient, but they have medium range, so they play a lot different to a LL or higher range based setup, because when you use them you enter the opfor ML/AC20/SRM weapon's range too.
Stability damage is not very good later on, as heavier mechs are harder to unstab by default and on top of that the opfor pilots have Sure Foot more often (halving stability), just because it's more likely they have both two lvl5 skills (50% chance of having Sure Foot). That said, it still works in the late game if you like that playstyle, just not as good as more damage oriented loadouts imo.
I wouldn't do that. If you get Multishot then get Breaching too. A breaching LRM boat can take advantage of both skills at the same time. I'd go Multi/Breaching + Bulwark or SL/MT + Bulwark. In the second case Sensor Lock is mostly wasted though.
Sure, you don't have to like it. But just in case you have a very specific playstyle in mind I'd say AP works with several different playstyles and even as a pure defensive skill. You don't have to hit & run (if that's what you're thinking) in order to be very effective.
For example in a long range mech (even LRM boats) it can be very useful too: the enemy gets close, you fire and jump away, gets close again, you fire and jump away, and so on. Even better if you have a Rangefinder combined with long range weaponry so you keep your mech outside the enemy shorter range AC20/ML/SRMs.
Also for say an AC20 Mech, does Breaching shot work if have mutiple weapons of the same type, say 2 x AC20?
If that is the case then Breaching Shot + Bulwark is good but then I want to rush to Tac 9 because I find Better called shot the must useful skill. That has won me so many battles and mechs.
The main con, like you already noticed, is that Multi doesn't work with Precision Shot. If you have only one (very big) weapon it may be worth to use BS, but then you can't use Multi (you have not more weapons).
With LRM boats is a bit different because Precision Shot, while still quite useful with them it's not as big of an improvement as with most other weapons. And here enters resolve economy. You'll often want to spend morale for PS with direct damage mechs instead of LRM salvos. Although in some instances it may be good to PS with LRM boats, like if you have easy kills at hand where the AI cannot reach you, it might be better to safely Sensor Lock and PS them to death with missiles while they cannot return fire at you.
Also, because you have indirect fire and very long range is easier to acquire those potential three targets for Multi than with weapons requiring LoS.
. . . another thing to be aware of, if you're coming back after that long a time, is that Shops (and the Black Market) have been overhauled extensively. Oh, and how Factions work, too. :D
You can sometimes find double heatsinks at "Former Starleague Presence" planets. The Black Market can have all sorts of rare stuff in it (including Star League mech parts), but if you tank your Pirate rep they'll cost absurd amounts.
Oh, and if you like to use Precision Shot, the Marauder (which was patched in for free, along with the Warhammer. Star League variants were added in patch 1.9) is totally broken. It doubles your PS chance. 35% headshots with 9 Tactics. As I said, totally broken. :)
Any recommendations for the following as I am not really familiar with the universe.
PS+BS AC20 Mech. Example for Medium would be the Centurion you get early in the campaign, that thing with Precesion Shot is a beast and I will now try which Breaching Shot as well.
LRMB - Archer you mentioned earlier, are there some good medium LRMB to search for?
I actually found the Javelin fitted with a LRM20+ does quite a nice job early on.
Close Ranger Las mech - Never tried this build before so not sure which mechs work well for this.
hope this helps :)
Medium Shooter:
Centurion: CN9-A "Yen Lo Wang"
Weapon; AC20 3t or 4t ammo, 2x MLAS
Armour: RA: 80, LA 80, LT 120 / 50, CT 180 / 75, RT 120 / 50, RL 110, LL 110, H 45
My favourite mech. What makes this such a great versatile brawler is bulwark, intelligent use of cover/trees and shield with left arm/left side. Also, it zombie's quite well. (Look up some of my videos posted a while back in this forum if you're not sure what I mean by shielding). MLAS is mostly for bracketing/removing ticks if you don't have a good enough % to hit for the AC20 but a lance mate does
Heavy shooter / brawler:
Orion: ON1-V
Weapon: AC20 3t ammo, 1x SRM6 1t ammo, 2x MLAS, 2x HS
Armour: RA: 120, LA 120, LT 160 / 75, CT 230 / 95, RT 160 / 75, RL 160, LL 160, H 45
Very good "small" Atlas. Shoots well, and brawls even better well. SRM to keep the pressure on and MLAS for bracketing. AC20 is the PS+BS focus here
Assault shooter:
Victor VTR-9B
Weapon: AC20 3t ammo, 2x MLAS, 4x HS
Armour: RA: 130, LA 130, LT 170 / 80, CT 250 / 125, RT 170 / 80, RL 170, LL 170, H 45
Good shooter and brawler - pair up with another mech or another 9B and pretty good. What makes this such a great versatile brawler is bulwark, intelligent use of cover/trees and shield with left arm/left side but please note that the MLAS are in the left arm; so don't use your best MLAS on this mech - MLAS are just for bracketing anyway. Always use called shot when it becomes available
Medium lasboat:
Hunchback HBK-4P "Broken Optics"
Weapons: All slots fitted with MLAS, 11x HS
Armour: RA: 80, LA 80, LT 120 / 45, CT 160 / 65, RT 120 / 45, RL 120, LL 120, H 45
Great medium lasboat. it's not as tanky as say the Centurion (because the hunchie needs its arms for the "accurate" MLAS bonus for the arm mounted MLAS also the gun pod seems to always get destroyed before anything else) but can brawl as an off brawl with a centurion if needed. This mech does benefit from venting as it allows it to continue to put out alpha damage for a few more extra rounds but note that once you do that, she does need to cool down but halving damage output
Archer missile boat:
Archer ARC-2S (SRM)
Weapons: 4x SRM6 5t ammo, 2x MLAS, 4x HS
Armour: RA: 110, LA 110, LT 150 / 55, CT 220 / 95, RT 150 / 55, RL 150, LL 150, H 45
I would actually use this as a SRM roflstomper and pair it with a brawler. Amazing alpha with the SRM6's. This one will work well with your skills you're looking at.
ARC-2R (LRM)
Weapons: 2x LRM15 6t ammo, 2x MLAS, 1x JJ
Armour; default
The idea here is that default armour because its IDFS - so keep it hidden and sitting on the cusp of max range to enemy. You want max tactics and thus tactician because IDF bonus. Bulwark is is good to have in case of enemy IDF although not required. Evasion is ok to have because the 1x JJ
so just give um all a try and see what works for you. IMO they all work in the right circumstances. Vent pilots on hot maps, or early/mid game. Master tactics for those convoy missions, or one of your pilots in a big mech. Ace pilot is great for many reasons. Mutlishot+stay shot can really do some cool things with knocking off chevrons and breaching. Sensor lock is a no brainer what it's for, bulwurk makes your pilots soak more damage. Really to me surefooting is the one i don't get much use out of outside of unlocking acepilot, But it's not bad to use on a Bralwer combine with vent, or acepilot. (though Vent i think is what unlocks the "brawler term"
This is great, thank you very much for taking the time to provide such a detailed answer! Much appreciated!!!
No problems :) Happy to part with some tactics and advice :D The way you build your mechs and pilots is up to you so don't feel obligated to comply with my fits or anyones fits; think of them as a guide :)
Where the inherent game difficulty comes is the mechanics and tactics to use; once you get back into it I'm sure you'll remember how to play - so don't give up if some of the fights seem hard; try to think tactically rather than like a wow player and turret fest a map heh
For instance a couple I can think of off the top of my head while I'm waiting for the train; using JJ's to give you evasion ticks and always aim your jumps into cover... evasion ticks plus trees = hard to hit and if hit reduced damage
Stomping on vehicles rather than shooting
Drawing enemy onto the rocks to increase stab damage
Use flamers to shutdown hot mechs (search for my video "the age old question". Flamers have changed since I done that video but will give you a good idea of what sort of swarming tactics to use)
Although admittedly there's been a few changes over the past year or so but one of my favourites is the stray shots mechanic. I love this mechanic.
Why do I love it? Stray shots open up some tactical options such as funnelling the enemy using terrain to bunch up so that if you miss, you can still score a hit on someone else. One of the maps has a great choke point to use if the enemy lack JJ's.. there's a few SP map's that also have chokepoints as such. However how I do this is I bait with a fast cav just far enough in front of the enemy that it teases them into committing down the chokepoint and then bam! They hit the kill zone and I hammer them with my gun line or LRM's shooting over a hill