At most the mech can have 1 AC20 and 2 PPCs. That is awful for a 95 ton mech. Energy weapons blow. If it was 2 ballistic 1 missile or 1 ballistic 2 missile I could make those work. I use a 100 ton King Crab with 2 LRM20+++ and an AC20+++ and that’s fine. Though I can’t say I’m in love with that King Crab. I’m going to play some more and figure out whether I want to keep it. It’s kind of slow and I had to burn 6 tons on Jump Jets just to get some mobility.
Gotcha. Why do energy weapons blow?
The Banshee was always pretty much trash, the stock default model in TT has:
1x PPC
1x Autocannon/5
1x Small Laser
That’s it at 95 f’ing tons.
I’m discussing end game here, not early game where you’re making compromises all over, okay? With high gunnery and with how almost all maps are setup, you don’t need the range that PPCs come with. That is their big advantage. Range, and they don’t take up ammo and they aren’t as heavy as ballistic weapons. I’ve never run out of ammo before. Assault mechs have tonnage to burn so I don’t care about the tonnage/damage efficiency of a PPC. AC20+++ do 120 damage. PPC+ do 60 damage. Sure, you can fit 2 for the same tonnage as an AC20, but you want to do lots of damage to 1 location to knock out a mech. You also want to then do scattered damage to smash the internals that you opened up with the AC20. So I focus on AC20s and then missiles to smash up the internals.
That’s a bummer. I am only maybe 6 hours in and have just not found much use for the direct fire longer range weapons. The map construction seems to really reduce direct line of sight to shorter ranges. Medium range + LRMs seems like the best option. Could be small sample, but PPCs just don’t seem as cool as they should be. Perhaps my positioning needs work.
I’m at 42 hours now and I would agree. Medium range and missiles is where it’s at, especially once you start finding the +2 and +4 damage SRMs.
I still am really enjoying the game. But it is kind of making me wish the Long War 2 mod for WOTC would get finished up already.
I think people are underrating light mechs and energy weapons both. Also you can shoot screens away with a PPC which is far from useless if you set it up. I have a PPC that does 60 per shot and has been key at many takedowns. Don’t forget the PPC has the unique trait of adding 1 difficulty to the target’s next turn on a hit because it scrambles their sensors
Edit: also multiplayer means you cant just abuse the fact that the ai will always come close and let you ac20. Wait until a player kites you and your ac20.
The ppc has been wonderful for me, just generates a lot of heat.
It’s GUTS based. Specific Guts upgrade add +1 injuries. Also, there are special equipments that can help protect against pilots getting injured.
And FWIW, the difficulty rating is “roughly the drop tonnage you should aim for”. It is also, very occasionally, a boldfaced lie. I’m on a 2 thingy mission and it’s brutal.
The Lance I need to take out:
Black Knight
Thunderbolt
Wolverine
PPC Carrier (I think the Missle Carriers are worse but this thing is still terrifying).
The reinforcements:
2x Trebuchet
2x Wolverine.
I can field: 2 heavies, 2 mediums, with a few nice upgrades here and there.
No matter which direction I go in, I cannot take everything out in one group before the other group is knocking on the door. And that’s with several rounds of getting peppered with indirect LRM fire. I got pretty close on try #1 (it was down to the last two reinforcement wolverines and one was banged up but I had two pilots dead and one of my mechs was out of weapons). Try #2 didn’t go so well.
The second try would have gone better if one of the reinforcement Wolverines hadn’t inexplicably become impossible to kill. Both legs in critical condition, missing one arm. All I could do, with proper flanking, was hit armor (not enough morale for a called shot) for like 2.5 turns. And it managed to help finish off one of my mechs in the mean time.
By the time it was dead in addition to the downed mech on my side my poor Quickdraw had lost an arm and the pilot was down to 1 health.
I wish there were a confirmation before causing one’s own mech to overheat. A few times now at the end of a mission when I have the last enemy on the ground and in my haste to deliver the final blow I overheat.
I wonder, do some missions roll as a test if you’ll leave?
Or expect you to do the objective and then get to the LZ. Although it’s not clear to me if I can just withdraw in this one (I don’t remember the option but I was caught up in trying to win and blowing up stuff).
It was a number of hours before I recognized that you could, in some missions, do the objective and then just leave.
I don’t play multiplayer so that isn’t relevant to me. I was just giving my opinion on a single player game that I’m almost finished with. I’m pretty sure I’m about to start the final mission and will have done so with all assaults/heavies and abandoning energy weapons about 20 hours of playtime ago. If they work for you, great.
The bar that shows the current heat status should also show you what the status will be after you commit the attack you are planning (flashes), doesn’t it?
Edit: nevermind, I get what you are saying now. You wish it would pop up and ask “Are you sure?” if you are going to take an action that overheats you.
The initiative system really changes Battletech for the better. In fact it almost makes the game work.
BT tabletop made it very difficult to pick cheaper, lighter mechs, because one blast of AC/20 and they’re dead. But I just finished a mission where my all-Medium lance just danced around the Heavies, always moving and firing first.
Light mechs are still hard for me to use just because of their fragility; the Jenner still seems like the best light just because of its burst damage. I tried to get the Commando to work but it was just too fragile.
Yes, something to save me from my own stupidity. I know it tries to warn me, but I keep getting sloppy when I think I have the mission in the bag. I have a bad habit of clicking fire without looking when I’m mopping up.
Most recently I had a mission where I somehow finished off all the enemy mechs with just minor armor damage. The only thing left was to blow up some buildings. Figuring the buildings weren’t much of a threat I let my guard down and promptly overheated one of my mechs.
Ok I bought this game because I like the idea of a sci-fi giant mech rpg. But unlike apparently many of you, I know nothing of Battletech combat, rules, weapons, etc. I don’t know a PPC from an LRM or an AC10/AC20 - other than being weapons, I have no idea what those abbreviations mean. I know it’s bad to get hot and it’s bad to get hit. But that’s about it. I am a total newbie here. So what are some resources I can use to grok this all out. Thanks.
PPC - pew pew cannon :) Actually not sure, probably something Plasma Cannon from the looks of the fire.
LRM - long range missile SRM - short range missile
AC - autocannon
Edit:
Particle Projector Cannon: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Particle_Projector_Cannon
Still top seller right now. Here’s hoping it does well and they keep adding more.