Ah, okay, I have not finished the campaign yet. But there is no “sightseeing” in this game. I.e. no particular reasons to visit any of the locations other than those I outlined above.
The game would definitely benefit from some reasons to explore, beyond variations in store offerings.
JoshL
3448
Sorry, new to this game, and haven’t read the whole thread. Is there anything in the game that explains what all the icons and numbers in the HUD mean? There’s like a million different things going on and I have no idea what any of it means.
LeeAbe
3449
I found this very helpful.
RichVR
3450
Yeah, required reading for new players.
JoshL
3451
Yeah, that looks like exactly what I wanted. Thanks!
So, anyway, since you’re all here, I’m having a few doubts about loadouts, even after playing the campaign. Should I have mixed ranges on mechs sometimes, like LRMs and M Lasers? I tend to either go close range or LRM mechs (with some leeway on the front “scouting” mech). Also, I feel small weapons are mostly a waste of weight, am I wrong? Is there any advantage, in normal situations, to go melee instead of alpha striking? Maybe going lighter on heat sinks and alternate alpha and melee? I like to shoot from cover instead, it makes me feel safer, but it means there’s less variety in what I do.
It’s never a bad idea to be able to always effectively hit someone. In general, longer-range weapons have weaker oomph (eg - an LRM20 is great, but it’s spread over multiple mech parts so often the largest benefit is the stability loss). Longer range weapons are also usually are larger weapons, taking up more tonnage and slots which could be devoted to more firepower, heat sinks, or armor. That said, if you can manage to kite your opponents, whittling them down is fantastic as long as you’re not running out of ammo.
Melee attacks can be VERY strong, especially from heavier mechs. It’s a lot of damage to one spot, and can often inflict a critical hit. It also does stability damage, doesn’t use any heat, AND it automatically fires off your support weapons if you have any. The only drawback to melee is having to close in and then being exposed to return fire. I’ll usually keep my weapons fire up, and if my mech is getting too hot and I’m having to opt out of using some of my favorite toys, then I’ll go in for the melee attack to cool down and still do significant damage.
As for small weapons, if you’re not using them in melee then their value is a bit limited but still not totally worthless. They can help put the finishing touches on any opponent, add another die roll for that random chance at a critical hit or a called shot on a knocked-down mech, and flamers can be exceedingly effective if used situationally.
Lantz
3454
So, having at least a token long range weapon on each mech makes a huge difference as far as being able to strip away evasion pips on enemies. Particularly when you also have multitarget ability.
That said, I found it kind of less fun with optimal loadouts and switched to running stock mechs. Probably says more about my brain than the game.
geewhiz
3455
I wish there was some type of strategy overlay where you could research some weapons etc.
Advancing through the wars and years as new mechs and tech unlocked, perhaps? Yeah, that would be nice and could help avoid the sensation you were always rushing toward the same win state each time you played, because around the corner could be some new mech with new tech which might knock yours on their butts. Maybe have your pilots age & retire (if they make it that long), add in some more intrigue and that would be a set of changes which would get me to buy in on a full-fledged expansion price.
RichVR
3458
Still burnt out. But will consider.
vyshka
3459
Anyone fired up heavy metal yet? I guess this means another round of updating mods.
True, but the addition of official mod support with this release does put a pleasing new wrinkle on that routine.
Yeah, I might need to reinstall it some time. Oh and have a tournament.
Sharpe
3463
Just fired up Heavy Metal and started a new campaign and on the map screen it says there are 50 new destinations. The map looks like it has more systems in the Marik/Liao and Davion areas. I did not see Solaris (sad face) but 50 systems more is actually a nice boost.
Is this the first time the game has had AOE weapons? I can’t recall any others from when I played the game previously.
schurem
3465
Indeed. The stray shot thing for missiles was added in the urban warfare dlc, and now we got a mortar and shotgun style weapons.
