BEX - BT Extended Commander's Edition - Play hints

BattleTech Extended Commander's Edition is a great next step up from playing vanilla. It is a good next play through before moving onto Advanced or RogueTech. The problem is you need to make so many choices at career setup without knowing how they will effect you throughout the game. This guide explains a few things I have found useful to know at career setup to make your BEX play through the way you want it to be.

Disclaimer: This guide focuses on players with mid range skills who want a fun experience with manageable progression above an absolute authentic simulation play through. I humbly leave the fully hard play style to those better at the game than I am. I also acknowledge the players who freely give advice on all the BattleTech forums and on Steam that have helped me understand the game.

BEX - what makes it different - a few basics

In this guide I am focusing on the career mode, not campaign. I am also playing on standard difficulty.

The differences between BEX and vanilla (game mechanics):

• More planets - a huge new map of the inner sphere and a higher technology level
  
• All the Major House factions - many new small factions too
  
• New tech and new Mechs - hundreds of new Mechs, Vehicles and weapon variations
  
• Endo Steel chassis, Ferro armour, double heat sink engines, ECM, Anti-missile systems
  
• Mech quirks or abilities are nerfed - no Marauder headshot bonus, etc.
  
• Pilot fatigue - can be disabled
  
• Variable start year - 3025 to 3061
  
• More start location choices
  
• More choices on starting settings - * more on this later
  
• Ability to drop up to 2 full lances - requires specific "Bigger Drops" patch
  
• Bigger maps and many new maps
  
• Free joint exercises - random second support lance can appear
  
• Ability to choose which Mech variant you assemble - requires unlock during game
  
• **CLANS** - a huge really fun game changer. Fight the Clans and get really cool tech.

Things you need to know about BEX

There are a few things that BEX does differently to vanilla that can make a big difference to your career. Please don't see this a big whinge from a bad player. It is just how it is in BEX and you will have to learn to adapt.

Mid career flat spot
You start doing half skull or one skull missions. You will see the normal light Mechs with the odd Medium showing up. All is good and you slowly upgrade your lance to all Mediums and think your are ready for two or two and a half skulls.

This is where the flat spot kicks in. These 2+ skull missions are so random and sometimes so hard you can't win with the Mechs you salvaged early in the game. Or you are fighting the same old Mechs you always see and get no better salvage Mechs. Sure everyone says - step up to higher skulls to see better Mechs - but you just get your arse kicked more.

After enough grind, you get to a lance of 55T or 60T mechs and the same story - all the Mechs are the same and missions are too hard. Forums say the variable difficulty range on mission skulls is quite random, so BEX routinely hands you a whipping.

Too many enemy Mechs
The missions in BEX are so variable you never know how many lances will show up. In vanilla you can be pretty sure of a 4 v 4 battle on most 2 skull missions (with possible reinforcements later on). In BEX I often see 4 v 12, with 2 reinforcements already on the field when you arrive.

Bad landings
Expect to land right in the middle of the enemy sometimes - even with them in your rear arc
Hint: Reserve, reserve, reserve. Don't move or shoot because everybody will have 5 evasion on mission start. Let the AI use all its moves. This way they remove their own evasion for you making them easier to hit and if they shoot you they often miss due to your high evasion.

Good Mechs are rare
Don't expect to see really good Mechs in the shops, even in the Black Market. The rarity has been changed on the good Mechs. Annihilators are extremely rare. Marauder is hard to find. Atlas is not too bad.

All the good Mechs are nerfed
No Marauder headshot bonus. No Annihilators 20% on cannons (I think). New quirks and bonuses, but not so good as vanilla.

Clans - fight them or ignore them, you choose
Everything about Clan Mechs and weapons are better. They are tougher, have more armour, better weapons and more of them, and better heat management. They have a Star of 5 Mechs vs your Lance of 4. So beware, they will rip you to pieces if you are not ready, but beating them feels good and you get to take their stuff.

Setting up for fun and success - career start choices

In the previous section, I called out a few things you need to be aware of when playing BEX. This section is about choosing the start settings for a fun playstyle that focuses on developing my lance and having good manageable fights.

Step one - install "Bigger Drops" patch
Why? - because it allows you so much more freedom with Mech combinations and it smooths out the 'mid career flat spot' where you can't beat the ridiculous odds in 4 v 12 battles. Go and read the forums about it. Bigger Drops is a whole new level of fun. It will not make you overkill every mission, not to start with.

The start settings
For an enjoyable career I choose these:

• **Reduced Argo upgrade costs**
  
• Three Mech parts to build a Mech
  
• Unequipped Mechs - I like the challenge of finding the weapons
  
• Normal difficulty and fight difficulty
  
• Normal payments and salvage - allow rare salvage
  
• Normal pilot progression (experience)
  
• Start planet - SLDF cache - gives some good early weapons

Which start year - the big choice
You can start around 0325 but you will not see much good new tech until 3050.
I start some time after 3050 (post Helm core) to see all the new Mechs and tech.

Reduced Argo upgrade costs
If you choose reduced upgrade cost you can just do the upgrades quickly and get the benefits and have more fun. We all did the full cost slow build in vanilla, why do it again, its boring.

Playing BEX - its not about the career, its about after the career

Playstyle Hints for BEX

Playing BEX is not about the career. The career is great in vanilla and if you maxed it, don't bother running another prefect career in BEX. The fun in BEX starts after 1200 days when working your way towards a fully brutal, monster lance that can rip the Clans apart. You will not do that in 1200 days in BEX.

The Mechs and Tech are pretty hard to get and it takes a long time. There are few things you can do to make live a little easier.

[1] Rush the Argo upgrade for Mech Workshop
This allows you to combine any 3 Mech parts into any variant you have seen before.
For example; if you have 2 Stalker F parts and one Stalker H, you can make an F or H. This really speeds up getting the right Mech chassis you want.
Only works for same Mech types, Endosteel and Standard don't mix

[2] Get friendly with the Pirates, so you can buy Black Market access early and cheaply. Always run around with a spare $500k in the bank just in case.

[3] Don't keep too many Mechs in storage
Sell them and buy stuff. Look at the guides on the good Mechs to keep and which to sell. Plan for your future lance early on and only keep the best ones.

[4] Buy Weapons and Mech parts now for later use
Plan for the future. If you see a rare Mech part or really great heavy weapon you can't use now, buy it for later. Some stuff you will never see again if you let it slip by.
For example, I bought 2 Silver Bullet Guass Rifles early and didn't have a Mech big enough to put them in. Waited 200 or 300 days to use them, but so worth it.
Buy rare ammo - SB Guass ammo, Light Guass ammo, Guass ammo - I bet when you see the weapon, they won't have any ammo for sale.
Buy rare Mech parts - it can take 1000 days to get 3 Anni parts, but if you didn't buy the first one, when you see that third one you will wish you did. Try Outreach to buy Annis.

[5] Missions to look for
Look for missions with heavy or assault Mechs in the description to get good salvage early.
Clash of the Titans is 4 v 4 v 4 battle with 2 x OpFor with an assault Mech each. Hang back to a corner, trigger the first OpFor and run while they will fight each other. Sit back and pick up the pieces.
Titan Attack is a base defence mission with an assault Mech.
Tag Team, Search Denial and Joint Operation are good too - If these are on a planet with both Pirates and ComStar (former SLDF) there is a chance Comstar will appear and you can loot their LosTech. Look for a description that mentions LosTech and two lance working together, this means they will likely turn up. The second lance will turn up in a few turns and it will be Comstar (the guys with no markings).

[6] Upgrade command and drop limits
Getting even 1 extra Mech on the ground can change your day and speed up your salvage rates.

[7] Refit Mechs with long range weapons and Use Sensor Lock
I pick my start settings to give me Tactics so I can buy Sensor Lock really early. Just lock targets and hit them with range weapons. Especially useful early career if you re-config your Mechs with Large Lasers or PPCs. I had 2 x Talons on startup and sensor lock helped them kill long distance when all the OptFor has is Light Mechs with Medium Lasers or SRMs.
Update: Just found out if you spec your pilot for Sensor Lock and Master Tac and you are in a Zeus (chariot chassis), you can Sprint and Sensor in the same turn. Massive advantage!

[8] Early career use weapons with accuracy bonus not damage
It is better to hit and do some damage than not hit at all. Early game you need all the help you can get to just hit something, so use hit bonus weapons over damage bonus weapons. When your pilots get good hit bonuses switch to weapons with damage bonus. Also, use lasers, they hit better. Arm mounted weapons get +1 to hit over torso mounted.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading. Happy to hear suggestions or correct me on stuff I got wrong.

[Varyag]

I figured it out: you need to edit not only the pilotfatigue.json file with that entry, but also the other .json file in the folder, that will properly disable it

[Varyag]

It's been a while since you posted this, but it was very helpful already. You mentioned there is a way to turn off the pilot fatigue mechanic. I started a couple of test saves and immediately found out why people don't like this specific mod. Anyway, how do you remove it without breaking the game? I found it's own .json file and set it to enabled:false but it's still there.

[alexd125]

I find focusing on LRMs with a spotter or two can make life easy. Ecm in spotters, with ams as well. Nearly immune to missiles.