Good Tactics?

[V22 Osprey]

I'm really sucking right now. I've only been playing random battles, and I don't know what to do when my Mechs have 1.less firepower than the enmy and 2. Enemy mechs have shields and I dont!

Any tips?[:D]

[gazra]

I recommend that you thoroughly read the game manual and the WS Guide.pdf file that come with the game, as well as the WS Tables.pdf file that you can download from the 'Unofficial guide + titan/weapon table + titan database' thread in this forum. Knowledge is power. You will learn the best tactics to use in this game from experience.

In my experience, Recon Titans are deathtraps - if you have Recon Titans, then you will want to supplement them with Light Titans as soon as possible, and then replace the Recon Titans with heavier Titans when you can no longer recruit any more Jocks.

You should play the Deep Core campaign because it will teach you some of the tricks that enemy Titans will try to use on you, and because it should allow you to save up enough money to buy some Light Titans.

In cases when you have less firepower than the enemy, it is possible to defeat the enemy if you are lucky and you use superior tactics (such as hiding behind woods and hills (or making covering smoke screens with Auto Cannons) so that only 1 enemy Titan can fire at you at a time, or deliberately setting woods hexes on fire so that the enemy builds up heat while they move through those burning hexes).

If enemy Titans are using shields, then try to use Titans that have cannons and/or missile launchers because these weapons ignore shields (G.M.E. weapons actually have a better chance to hit enemy Titans that have an active shield!). The biggest advantage that Recon Titans have over all other Titans is their mobility - you should always be running (and jumping if possible) in Recon Titans and Light Titans so that the enemy has a much harder time of hitting your Titans with their weapons.

I would suggest that you try to charge attack the enemy as much as possible with your Recon Titans and Light Titans (even better would be to jump charge attack, but this is very difficult to do!). But remember, you can only charge an enemy Titan if you have a lock on that Titan.

And remember, always keep your Titans in a close formation and concentrate your attacks on the enemy Titan that has the most devasting weapons first (e.g. Auto Cannon 20, Tesla Bolt), then the enemy Titan that has the second most devatating weapons, etc. Always concentrate all of your Titans attacks on 1 enemy at a time. As soon as that Titan is down and no longer a serious threat, move on to the next Titan immediately.

Beware of expoding engines - they are the main cause of serious injury in the game!

Try to only attack the enemy when they are not running or jumping because it makes it so much easier for you to hit the enemy with your attacks (this is a tricky thing to do but you will get better with experience at waiting for the enemy to stop running or jumping before you fire your salvos at enemy Titans).

Also, try to only fire salvos of your Titan's weapons when your Titans are not moving because this gives you a better chance of hitting the enemy. When your Titan's attack icon is coloured yellow, this indicates that your Titan is moving. Try to wait until your Titan finishes moving into a hex, then fire all of your Titan's weapons in a salvo at an enemy, then immediately move your Titan again.

I've read that the enemy A.I. is actually quite dumb in random map battles - apparently enemy Titans will just run straight up to you. Take advantage of this knowledge to hide all of your Titans in well laid out ambush areas, and wait for the enemy Titans to enter your killing zone one at a time.

Getting successful scans on enemy Titans is not important, so don't worry if your scans always fail.

I am really enjoying playing the campaigns that come with the game. You might want to play the Deep Core campaign, then the Internal Affairs campaign (you will have to download this campaign from elsewhere in this forum), then the Rebel Hunter campaign (mission 7 in this campaign is my favourite mission that I've played so far - it will blow your mind!!!), then the Savannah campaign (be warned, missions 2 and 5 in this campaign are EXTREMELY difficult!!!).

I hope these suggestions help you get past your problem, V22 Osprey, because this is a superb computer game!

[V22 Osprey]

I can't seem to load a campaign.It wont let me select the option.Do I have to download them somewhere?

[gazra]

The interfaces in this game can be very confusing, especially when trying to play campaigns. Select the following from the Command Center (i.e. the game's main menu):

SOLITARY GAME
START NEW GAME
LOAD TEAM FROM FILE
SELECT ALL
ACCEPT
SELECT MAP
LOAD CAMPAIGN
select the campaign that you want to play (e.g. Deep Core)
BRIEFING
START GAME

*Important*: once you have completed a mission of a campaign, to continue playing the campaign, you have to do the same thing all over again as you did to play mission 1 of the campaign. The game will automatically list the next mission in the campaign for you.

Important keys to use during battles are:
9 - shows the current 'attack action' and 'move action' for each of your Titans.
0 (number, not letter) - creates coloured circles beneath all Titans so that you can see which Titans are on which teams.
Shift B - shows all of the modifiers to hit the locked target with each of your weapons.
Shift E - shows any exit hexes that you need to enter in order to complete mission.
Shift T - shows any target hexes that are dependent on mission success or failure.
F3 - change any 'move action' and/or 'attack action' orders for any of your Titans.
F4 - adjust game settings to suit your play style.
F5 - display the last 40 messages.
F7 - save game.
F8 - load game.
F9 - shows mission objectives.
F10 - shows briefing again.

[Thorgrim]

One of the best weapons vs shields is actually the Tesla Bolt  [:D]  If you're lucky, it'll overload the shield, causing it to fail *and* take longer to recycle *and* spike the heat of the target. Brutal! If you're *really* lucky, an internal hit on the shield with an EM Pulser will also cause it to fail *and* have to recycle.
 
About charges, also remember that you need your leg actuators to be recycled in order to use those attack types - no use in trying to jump charge twice in a row for example.
As to firing at enemies when they finish movement, you can use 'wait on locked enemy' 'move' to wait for him to get to a new hex. Beware though, that entering a new hex doesn't mean he is standing still (zero speed)! His speed will not change if he will continue to move in the same direction without breaking move or activating attack mode! The same applies to you, of course, so if you fire your weapons when you reach a new hex, your titan will stop and lose the speed related defensive mod (and the AI might just be waiting for that [;)] ).
BTW, on the AI, low level AIs will act dumb on purpose, but level 4+ AIs will act much more intelligently. As they go up in rank, they unlock smarter attack and defense routines. And they don't run straight at you, don't know where you read that. They are set up to move to the center of the map while looking for opponents, but that's hardly running straight into your arms, hehe.
 
Campaigns, you have to make sure you have selected a "normal" (i.e, non-tournament) squad *before* you select the maps.

[gazra]

I've read that the way other players make money in this game is by playing random map battles with enemy Jocks that have a higher quality (i.e. that are higher ranked) than your Jocks, and with a total enemy Titan tonnage that is less than your Squad's total Titan tonnage.

You can make new Squads start with $700,000 (instead of the normal $500,000) and all new Jock recruits start with the rank of Green (instead of the lowest rank of Rookie) by editing the tcc.cfg file (in the game's directory) and adding the following line under the following heading:

[TOS_WS_HQ]
start_rank = 2