Video Games: A Far Cry From E3

[Werthead]

Yeah, they'd don't do a great job of explaining the systems in BattleTech (not MechWarrior, as we've got MechWarrior 5 coming out at the end of this year and that'll get confusing!) but once you do get the hang of them they're relatively straightforward. Heat management is key and knowing what mech is best-suited for what job. Fortunately there's several wikis and 34 years of assessments of what the different mechs can do, and Harebrained have replicated that information in the game pretty faithfully.

Being able to improve called shots would be handy, and knowing that if you destroy the head (cockpit) you can take the mech intact or if you destroy the CT (central torso, or core) you'll blow up the mech altogether. Facing is also critically important: if a mech turns side-on to you, you'll have to blow off first its arm and then the side torso to hit the core (so you can adjust your facing to improve survivability). Removing enemy Evasion points with Sensor Locks is also hugely critical as well.

On 26/04/2018 at 3:08 PM, Fez said:

So I picked up Battletech. It's a really solid game overall. I see, but don't really agree with, RPS' issues; and I especially think that the menu options solve most of them (though the load times are excessively long). However, I do think the UI is beyond clunky and the game does a bad job at explaining a lot of its systems (I'm still not totally clear on when/how the list of non-priority contracts gets refreshed). Also, there's a ton of background info you can give your character and that your mech pilots come pre-generated with, but almost none of it seems to have any impact. I guess it's just there for headcanon role-playing purposes.

The stuff on the spaceship was apparently inspired by the likes of Firefly and Star Trek with the crew bonding over movies, food and so on and those elements were meant evoke that kind of stuff.

[RumHam]

I swear you guys have sold me on more games.... I've never even played a Mechwarrior/Battletech game before and I'm downloading this one now. 

[Jace, Extat]

42 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Yeah, they'd don't do a great job of explaining the systems in BattleTech (not MechWarrior, as we've got MechWarrior 5 coming out at the end of this year and that'll get confusing!) but once you do get the hang of them they're relatively straightforward. Heat management is key and knowing what mech is best-suited for what job. Fortunately there's several wikis and 34 years of assessments of what the different mechs can do, and Harebrained have replicated that information in the game pretty faithfully.

Being able to improve called shots would be handy, and knowing that if you destroy the head (cockpit) you can take the mech intact or if you destroy the CT (central torso, or core) you'll blow up the mech altogether. Facing is also critically important: if a mech turns side-on to you, you'll have to blow off first its arm and then the side torso to hit the core (so you can adjust your facing to improve survivability). Removing enemy Evasion points with Sensor Locks is also hugely critical as well.

The stuff on the spaceship was apparently inspired by the likes of Firefly and Star Trek with the crew bonding over movies, food and so on and those elements were meant evoke that kind of stuff.

Do you know the background of the series? Where are those giant roaming towers that repaired Mechs? I need my late nineties repair stations!!!

 

15 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I swear you guys have sold me on more games.... I've never even played a Mechwarrior/Battletech game before and I'm downloading this one now. 

It's dope. Don't get overwhelmed and just stick with the process. I've squad wiped a couple times but it all teaches me something.

[Corvinus85]

2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Yeah, they'd don't do a great job of explaining the systems in BattleTech (not MechWarrior, as we've got MechWarrior 5 coming out at the end of this year and that'll get confusing!) but once you do get the hang of them they're relatively straightforward. Heat management is key and knowing what mech is best-suited for what job. Fortunately there's several wikis and 34 years of assessments of what the different mechs can do, and Harebrained have replicated that information in the game pretty faithfully.

Being able to improve called shots would be handy, and knowing that if you destroy the head (cockpit) you can take the mech intact or if you destroy the CT (central torso, or core) you'll blow up the mech altogether. Facing is also critically important: if a mech turns side-on to you, you'll have to blow off first its arm and then the side torso to hit the core (so you can adjust your facing to improve survivability). Removing enemy Evasion points with Sensor Locks is also hugely critical as well.

The stuff on the spaceship was apparently inspired by the likes of Firefly and Star Trek with the crew bonding over movies, food and so on and those elements were meant evoke that kind of stuff.

I would like the game to teach me that, not for me to go research online for this and that.

I don't like the UI, I have no idea how attacking specific points on a mech works, or how multi-target works. I lost the intro mission to get off the planet right near the end as Kamea's mech overheated, even though the last move I did was "brace" to try to cool it down.

1 hour ago, Pony Empress Jace said:

It's dope. Don't get overwhelmed and just stick with the process. I've squad wiped a couple times but it all teaches me something.

I learned nothing from how I lost the mission. This game is not dope at this point.

[Jace, Extat]

12 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

I would like the game to teach me that, not for me to go research online for this and that.

I don't like the UI, I have no idea how attacking specific points on a mech works, or how multi-target works. I lost the intro mission to get off the planet right near the end as Kamea's mech overheated, even though the last move I did was "brace" to try to cool it down.

I learned nothing from how I lost the mission. This game is not dope at this point.

Its not what I did, but I bet doing the skirmish battles would be very informative. Put a couple different light and mediums of your own against an inferior enemy and just see how the battles flow.

I don't really know how to explain it, except to say that literally every movement needs to be deliberate to the nth degree. Most missions have no time element and that's important to remember.

I believe the original source material is a board game? If so that's what this reminds me of.

Its not just what you attack and how. It's where, when, why, what, and HEAT. When you go past your red line you start taking damage every turn. If you max it out (or the enemy overheats you with a plasma cannon) The mech explodes immediately.

You have to position yourself in advance of turns so that you optimise your options. Running in to slaughter a mech isn't nearly as effective as getting flanking shots from optimal ranges that increase effectivity of your shots.

Also don't discount the occasional melee attack, they're very useful to help cooling down.

[Werthead]

18 hours ago, Pony Empress Jace said:

Do you know the background of the series? Where are those giant roaming towers that repaired Mechs? I need my late nineties repair stations!!!

I've covered the background to the series here.

As for more general ideas, if there's a river on the map you can get your mechs to run into it to help cool off. Arctic biomes also mean they build up heat much more slowly than on other maps.

Other stuff is not spelled out but makes sense: missiles and autocannons are good for chewing up armour, whilst lasers and plasma cannons are good for damaging internal systems. However, plasma cannons are also the closest thing you have to sniper rifles and can hit the enemy at long range and do significant damage. A Vindicator with dual PPCs backed up by other mechs with LRM (long range missiles) can wreck have on the enemy at long range. Remember this isn't XCOM, you don't get a chance to move again so be careful where you're positioning your mech at the end of the round and also try to predict how the enemy may react to try to flank you. Remember to use jump jets to get more favourable positioning (getting above the enemy may improve your chances of hitting the CT or head, and getting behind them for a clear shot at the CRT can turn the tide of battle) or to effect an emergency withdrawal. Pulling a mech back and rushing another one forward to take hits is a viable strategy: the AI is usually very conservative and will generally fire at your nearest mechs, which you can use to your advantage. If it does smell blood it may become a bit bolder, so be careful.

Staying out of range of the missile tanks when they appear (the SRMS and LRMS, I believe, for short range and long range) is critical, those guys can screw you up.

Missile weapons are measured by a number: SRM or LRM 5 or 10 or whatever. This number is the number of actual missiles fired. This means more damage per volley but also more missiles are used up. You need to add actual LRM or SRM ammo to your mech and multiple ammo canisters to hold more missiles (your canisters are automatically reloaded between missions). However - and this is slightly inconsistent - the laser cannons don't use the same designations. L Laser, M Laser and S Laser mean that power level of the weapon, not the range. Lasers don't use ammo but they heat your mech up, so if you're going with a heavy laser build  you'll want lots of heatsinks. A favourite tactic is "laser shotgunning". A Black Knight (a heavy) can mount 1 Large Laser and 7 Mediums with enough heatsinks to absorb the damage. Use missiles to knock out an enemy's armour, get this guy in close and they can take out almost anything in single hits (they also fry the enemy's systems).

Enemy spotter mechs can set you up for long-range fire; if there's only 1 mech in view but you're being hammered from barrages out of nowhere, destroy the mech and the other barrages should cease.

Remember to develop your pilots and mechs together. Ranged mech pilots should focus on Gunnery (to hit the enemy) and Tactics (to manage heat better and other systems). Melee mechs should focus on Piloting, as this determines how well you can punch things. Melee mechs are viable builds, since you can strip them of pretty much everything bar jump jets and a few heat sinks, then you can just whack up the armour on everything instead and focus on just punching enemy mechs in the face.

Light mechs are useful later on in the game, but can get splattered with single hits from Heavies and Assaults, so they should be employed cautiously as spotters and jumpers (once your mechs are all engaged, a light mech can jump behind an enemy mech, even a much tougher one, and do some real damage). Generally once Heavies start appearing, I'd retire the Lights and use Mediums with jump jets instead. They're not quite as nippy but they're more likely to survive a single round of combat.

[Werthead]

Additional: okay, don't put dual PPCs on a Vindicator. The damage it does is incredible but it can only fire once every three rounds without setting itself on fire. One PPC with a laser and some missiles is probably better.

I need to find a Heavy to mount multiple PPCs and stupid numbers of heatsinks instead.

[Yukle]

Had a bit more time to play Civ V! I finally played a match against an actual human being. And won in 1500AD. Captured the capital, after first rubbing it in by taking all of the city-states and negotiating for a city in exchange for 1500 gold and a peace treaty of 10 turns. I attacked on turn 11.

Does anyone play anything other than domination victories? No one seems to expect you to attack before the Industrial age. I played as Russia, because I love Catherine's gorgeous dress. Flawless strategy.

[l2 0 5 5]

Played the Detroit: Become Human demo and had fun with it. It's the same chapter they've shown at events so it wasn't anything I haven't seen before. I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, and thought this demo was cool so I'll probably buy it.

[RumHam]

Question about Battletech. I've only finished the first battle but there was a multi-target option or something similar that didn't seem to work. I've select it and click three enemies and it would label them A, B, C and then when I hit fire it just hit A. As I'm typing this I'm wondering if there was  a targeting menu I missed where you choose which weapons to target A,B, or C... This game really does need a better tutorial / helper thing

[Jace, Extat]

2 minutes ago, RumHam said:

Question about Battletech. I've only finished the first battle but there was a multi-target option or something similar that didn't seem to work. I've select it and click three enemies and it would label them A, B, C and then when I hit fire it just hit A. As I'm typing this I'm wondering if there was  a targeting menu I missed where you choose which weapons to target A,B, or C... This game really does need a better tutorial / helper thing

Yes. When you have a Mech selected you can cycle weapons between on and off in the bottomish right corner readout.

When multi-targeting specifically, they will cycle between A, B, C, and off.

This makes controlling heat management incredibly easier.

[Corvinus85]

I figured that out last night, too. So if you multi-target you won't hit any one enemy with your full firepower, it does allow you to control heat management. I still haven't figured out how to hit specific points on an enemy mech.

[KiDisaster]

2 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I figured that out last night, too. So if you multi-target you won't hit any one enemy with your full firepower, it does allow you to control heat management. I still haven't figured out how to hit specific points on an enemy mech.

Most of the time it's dependent on facing and dice rolls. If you right click an enemy mech you can see which general areas your attack will hit with a red outline around the diagram of the mech that pops up on the top of the screen. A red outline around the whole thing means you're attacking them front on, if it's only one side you're only going to hit that side, it'll outline the back if you're behind them etc. The specific parts that you hit are randomly determined. 

You can also do a "Called Shot" to choose a specific body part and increase your chances of hitting it (still dependent on dice rolls though). It's a separate ability on your hot bar and it costs morale points to use. Unless you're attacking a downed mech, then every shot is a free called shot. 

[Fez]

8 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I figured that out last night, too. So if you multi-target you won't hit any one enemy with your full firepower, it does allow you to control heat management. I still haven't figured out how to hit specific points on an enemy mech.

Multi-target is mostly good for cutting back mech evasion; any attack, no matter how weak or bad the percentage to hit, will take away an evasion point. So if you know you're going to want one of your mechs going later in the term to attack a secondary target (i.e. because you think the primary target will be destroyed by then), it's worth it to send a single weapon attack its way with multi-target while your main firepower focuses on the main target.

[A True Kaniggit]

On 4/30/2018 at 7:25 PM, l2 0 5 5 said:

Played the Detroit: Become Human demo and had fun with it. It's the same chapter they've shown at events so it wasn't anything I haven't seen before. I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, and thought this demo was cool so I'll probably buy it.

One of the things I love about Heavy Rain is you can enjoy it after you've played it yourself by just watching other people play. Recently I finally convinced my little sister to play through the game. And on one of the trials

  she chose the

HACKSAW. Who the hell chooses the HACKSAW?!  

[Mark Antony]

 

[Guy Kilmore]

I really liked the first one, pretty excited for the sequel.  

[Werthead]

Total War Sagas: Throne of Britannia is out now.

Oddly mixed reaction. Some people reacting well to the much tighter focus, streamlined mechanics and much shorter campaigns (you can now finish a short campaign in an evening, apparently), other people really reacting badly against them. Must admit the tight focus appeals after I bounced off the Warhammer games very hard.

[Corvinus85]

I got it, but haven't had time to play. They did a lot of work to have some unique campaign mechanics, and a lot of work on the city maps. Some reviewers seem to actually like siege combat this time.

On the other hand, if you care a lot about unit diversity for armies, you're not going to get it with this one, and it wouldn't be historically accurate anyway. Everyone then and there fought with spears, swords, axes, and shields.

[Inkdaub]

On 4/24/2018 at 8:18 AM, Fiddler said:

I enjoyed Lords of the Fallen, but as you said, it is similar to Dark Souls. Like Dark Souls, it does become a little easier as you get used to the game itself, but it never becomes easy.  I played Dark Souls 3 for over 200 hours then played through Lords of the Fallen.  After that I had to switch to Diablo 3 just to have an easy game in which I didn't have to sweat every single enemy.

Dragon's Dogma is one of my all time favorite games.  The combat in it is so much fun and the pawn system is one of my favorite systems in an RPG.

The combat in Dragon's Dogma is great, yeah.  Just feels fun to fight whatever enemy presents.  I'm a ranger and use daggers and a bow for ranged.  The action for both is great.  The pawns are cool when I find good ones.  I have to find pawns that have the right stats and look and sometimes the right voice.  I don't like the ones that look like kids and there is one particular voice that grates on me.  It takes me like an hour to find pawns I use for a few levels at a time, but once I have my crew together I'm happy.

I bought some more games.  Final Fantasy XV is great.  I have never played any Final Fantasy game until this one.  Are they all relatively like this?  If so I will probably buy more of them.  I'm enjoying this XV far more than I thought I would.  I just sort of bought it on a lark because I like to buy games.