Wow. I suck. [LONG]

[Chris Woods]

Hey all,

This message is going to be kinda long, as I'll detail my three jocks, mechs, and battle strategy to communicate what I may be doing wrong.

Just recently picked up this game. I'm a long time vet of the Battletech board game, but totally new to the ToS system. (Never played the shareware version) Anyway, after a few times of getting trounced on the Savanah Campaign Map 1 I thought I'd seek a little help.

Note: I beleive the Savannah (Rookie) campaign is the easiest, followed by the Novice campaign, right? The fact that the Novice Campaign sorts above the Rookie campaign is a little misleading.

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Ok, so my squad consists of the following:

Jennifer: ~55 Recon/Light, ~55 Unguided Missle, ~50 Energy, ~30 Warfare and Scanner

Hawkeye: ~55 Recon/Light, ~55 Cannon, ~55 Unguided Missile, ~30 Warfare, ~50 Scanner

TX-400: ~55 Recon/Light, ~50 Energy, ~50 Guided Missile, ~40 Indirect Fire, ~50 Warfare, ~30 Scanner

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With the following custom mechs (listed respectively -- quickness relative to other mechs)

Crossbow: ~15 Armor all slots, 1x Large Laser, 1x LRM 9, BattleComp 2, Scanner 1, Med Speed

Raven: ~18 Armor all slots, 2x Machine Gun, 2x SRM 4, BattleComp 1, Scanner 4, High Speed

Ballista: ~12 Armor all slots, 1x Large Laser, 1x GMH 2, BattleComp 3, Scanner 1, Low Speed

(Heat dispersion and Engine capacity omitted, as I am having no problems managing those. No mech makes use of Shielding or ECM)

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And I put forth the following battle tactics:

Raven/Hawkeye is the obvious scout, so he begins running immeditaly. Ballista/TX-400 takes to the nearest high ground and establishes Scanner Link with Raven/Hawkeye. Crossbow/Jennifer follows Raven/Hawkeye at a medium distance and also establishes Scanner Link.

On contact with the enemy, Ballista/TX-400 begins an Active Scan, Crossbow/Jennifer seeks optimal fireing range and begins to open fire and Raven/Hawkeye uses cover as apprporiate, dodges, and otherwise unloads with Machine Guns and SRM's as appropriate.

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The major problems I'm facing, leading to my ultimate downfall:

* No matter what range, anywhere from 2 - 12 Hexes, I've never seen Ballista/TX-400 or Crossbow/Jennifer have more then roughly 15% to hit with their missile racks, which makes them all but useless, espically considering the amount of tonnange invested. Usually, the to-hit is around 5%. There has to be something I'm doing critically wrong regarding Long Range fire.

* Lasers have the same issue, although to a lesser extent. Usually top out at 30%, although this is unsuprising. I'm only listing it to ensure that I sohuld expect roughly 30% accruacy at these low of a level. I will note, however, that beyond 5 hexes my percentage with those lasers dumps off to like 10-15%. Outside of 8 I might as well use em to cook Hotdogs.

* Raven/Hawkeye gets all sorts of good shots. 50-60% easy, but he can't solo the enemies while the other two squadmates, designed to be part of the Alpha Strike and Fire Support, are rendered useless due to extremly poor missile percentages.

Anyone suggest how I'm mismanaging my combat here? Am I doomed to make 3 Gladiator style Recon Mechs (Short Range weapons, no Scanner Coordination) to complete the first map?

Chris Woods

[Iskandar]

Only tips I can give you are these:

Do not fire will moving, it SEVERELY compromises your to hit numbers, especially with rookie jocks. Have your attack menu set on wait on move, or simply call attack after you have made a move, and before choosing your next movement order.

Remember, LRM's and GMH's have a minimum range (5 for GMH's, unsure for LRM's).

Crouch your missle support mechs in cover, preferably up a hill. Doing so will give you a 5% to hit bonus (for the crouching) and give your foes penalties to hit you (the cover).

Do not shoot Titans that are running unless you have no other choice. Have your attack menu wait on locked enemy's move. Recon Titans move fast enough that they give fairly decent to hit penalties to those firing on them. (though lasers and GMH's should help with that)

Scan if you have time. Scan if you can take the time. A yellow scan is a 4% hit bonus, and a green is 8%.

While all CC Titan's are not mandatory, yeah, having one would help. Pick a Swift Death over a Duelist, though. Or, maybe even a Banzai. You'll tie up one enemy, who definitely will not be moving. Just be careful of the friendly fire of GMH's and LRM's (and SRM's).

Don't expect a brand new Jock to hit at range too well despite this. For your first fight, keep the GMH and LRM titans at 5 or 6 hexes if possible, and everyone else at 0 to 2 hexes.

Don't pound an enemy too hard. If he is down missing an leg and a torso (or arm) leave him. He'll eject. Recon Titans with rookie pilots tend to explode more so than any other. Side note to this, if you have no active threats at the time, having a Titan on the ground missing a leg or lower torso (can't stand) is a REALLY good time to take the time to scan. Just back away a hex or 3, so he won't shoot you. Once you get a scan, call shot to a torso (that doesn't have the engine in it, natch). It is good practive to be in, a good commander inflicts just enough damage to an enemy to disable him.

Go read the guide. Should be a sticky thread at the top of this forum pointing to it. Explains a lot of the mechanics behind the scenes, which can be really helpful.
Hope this helps a bit.

[Thorgrim]

Note: I beleive the Savannah (Rookie) campaign is the easiest, followed by the Novice campaign, right? The fact that the Novice Campaign sorts above the Rookie campaign is a little misleading.

It's in the "upgrade". Check the changes log in some other thread.

Also, there are a number of tips for beginners in one of the sub-forums. Also check the Map Room sub-forum.

[Invinsenile_196]

I too was a devout Battletech player and had much the similar problems you seem to be having. Intruder advised me to try the Deep Core campaign and now all makes sense about TOS. So get the Ultimate Deep Core Campaign in the titan map room. It is a sub-rookie campaign for absolute beginners but don't let that stop you. Its a lotta fun too.
I was at the verge of returning the game. I played that game now you must pry this game from my cold dead hands before I give it away.

[Thorgrim]

Questions, out of curiosity: did any of you play the tutorial? Was it any help? Was anything missing there?

[smc415]

I played the tutorial, and found it quite helpful. Can't think of anything that was missing. After doing it, I still had trouble with the two mode command system. I am used to it now, playing a bit, then coming here to read various tips, then returning to play seemed to work best for me.

[KiloOhm]

Try the Deep Core Campaign. It's easy, and by the time your done you've gained valuable experience. I've heard the Savannah is too hard for most people so I did the Deep Core first. It's located in the MAP forums (it's user made).

I've also heard that missle mech's don't really become useful until you can get into Medium chasis (vet's can back me up or disagree), thoery is you can't get enough missles in a small chasis to do any real damage. I've had great luck with rookies using Recon mech's packed with Machine guns / lasers with one person as a close combat guy (you will be impressed the first time you hit with a chainsaw). Also, even though your weapons CAN hit at say range 5, you should really close to the minimum range allowed (0 for most weapons), then your tohit should get up to 60% with a decent scan. Of course this is only until your squad gets better.

Oh one other tip that I learned my second time making my squad. You probably know that you should have a specialist for each Mechanic, Leader and Buisnessman but what I didn't realize is that if you don't hire the Leader first, you miss out on a TON of free skill points. Your leader helps you hire new recruits so the better your leader skill the better stats your recruits start with.

Your tactics sound more planned and less chaotic than mine so I assume once you understand some of the little nuances you'll be schooling me on tactics (maybe even on the field )

[Firefly]

Oh one other tip that I learned my second time making my squad. You probably know that you should have a specialist for each Mechanic, Leader and Buisnessman but what I didn't realize is that if you don't hire the Leader first, you miss out on a TON of free skill points. Your leader helps you hire new recruits so the better your leader skill the better stats your recruits start with.

Your first jock in a team is also created as if you had a leader with a leadership skill of 75 and will receive a boost to his leadership (your second receives a boost to Business and your third a boost to Damage Control), so yes, you should alway treat your first jock as your leader and probably pick a human for the Charisma boost.