I think Yang talks about stability in his tutorial text. I am not sure it covers stability. I appreciate that they do not want to overwhelm new players with a mountain of information but feel they could have presented more with some graphics/pictures, perhaps a training terminal or such.
I have played missions were i could have walked into the area were a dropship was going to land. I believe the hex dots were red and there definitely was an info box saying a dropship was going to land there and will damage mechs. You may have to leave the mouse over the ground to get the info.
I am really enjoying the game and was really struggling with money and recovery time (for mechs and pilots). The i did the 3rd(?) story mission (Panzr i think) and payout for that helped quite a bit.
This is a good point. In Battletech, it’s about degradation of your units vs. your opponents, whether through damage, heat, or ammo depletion. In X-Com, it’s more about keeping your units in the action and getting off the ever-important first shot against a target.
I will say there is a lot of good info buried in the game itself, but you have to go and talk to everybody to get the tutorial stuff.
And yeah, some missions are super easy, while others are super hard. Which is pretty good. I mean, I’ve had lucky shots from the enemy take out my mechs, and vice versa, and the battle AI seems pretty good.
One thing I don’t really like is the lack of a big-picture and perhaps even 2D battle map. I mean, we have ships in orbit, fer goodness sake! Why can’t I see a better representation of the battlefield?
I’m still climbing the Chick Parabola and it is glorious! I finally get the interface bits. Things that are so obvious NOW but didn’t register earlier.
For example, the initiative bar. 5 is fastest. There’s little triangles showing how many meeples are that speed. Grey is you, red is targets. So obvious right? Yet my brain ignored it because I was still figuring out how to move.
And yes, what that little yellow bar is. Which btw, I am now abusing. Ballistic stuff does stability damage (yellow bar) so it makes stuff fall. Fallen targets are good. Two things about falling. If the left chest blows up, AND the mec falls, it seems pilot only takes one damage? Have to see if it’s a UI issue, but it seems I still need to do 2 more damage to take out the pilot. You need 3 points to take out a pilot. Another thing, fallen mecs are good because it makes it easier to capture. Either blow up the other leg or try to take out the left/right chest (more salvage this way but riskier).
When you move, you get to highlight to see what weapons will be in range. Useful.
When you attack, there’s all these red lines showing which flank you’re actually attacking. Useful!
Oh yeah, the abuse. So I took a mec and loaded it up with LRM15+ I bought at store. Just missiles. Bring a light mec friend to target lock for you. On a good hit you’ll fill up the yellow bar and the mec goes on its ass.
ALSO, I do not like the big tanks that are showing up. They no longer explode when you step on them. Too many hit points. They are like nasty cockroaches that won’t die.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find it an interesting design choice not going with any difficulty options. I can’t honestly recall the last game I played with no choices on this.
Not all pilots only have 3 hp for one, and secondly there may be a rule limiting one pilot damage per salvo though I am pretty sure I’ve done 2 before with a knockdown and a hit.
Thanks for the detailed reply! It’s really appreciated.
I’m thinking I’ll stick with XCom 2, and by the time my turn based itch returns, Battletech will be patched up. Tough call though, because I do really like the mech theme more.
I had an interesting… issue… with a crew member. A lady named Behemoth decided to remove wall panels to gain more leg room. I had a choice of telling her to put it back or paying a 20,000 cbill fine. Also another one that I didn’t have the skill for. I decided to back her up and keep my crew happy. So I paid the fine and got +1 morale. Cool.
