Rookie questions

[elmo3]

I'm too new to the game to call this a bug. Just started a battle with the default team after loading the extended database. One of my team (Greedy) shows up as a brown icon which looks like he is the enemy. I never get to give him any orders. There are three enemy titans against my two, plus Greedy who does nothing. Is this a bug or am I missing something obvious? I have an autosave game if it sounds like a bug.

Playing with the latest version. Thanks for any help.

[Sleeping_Dragon]

Not exactly sure what you mean by the 'brown icon'. The titan icons are based on what chassis type to design is built on, some are brown, yellowish, greenish; not the controling team (although I think there are optional hex border colors that will show who's on which team, look under F1, it should be on the list)

To make sure you still have control of your 3rd team memeber, try hitting F3 in game and then 'Call that team members attack or move" in a few seconds that jock shoould become active agian... you can also hit "9" and get a list of what actions members of your squad are doing. My 1st suspision is that that particular jock had move set to wait on call and attack set to wait on enemy visable.

If that don't work PM me the save game.

[elmo3]

Ok, Greedy is in a Dragonfly which is brown (at least to my tired old eyes). What confused me was that all enemy Titans are also brown, and my other two look gray to me. So I thought Greedy had gone over to the other side!

Turns out I managed to set both his orders to On Call. I didn't know that, and didn't know to call him. The program was just cycling between my other two jocks and ignoring him. F3 did the trick!

Thanks very much.

[Sleeping_Dragon]

Glad to help![:)]


The "wait on <insert call/move/enemy/etc..>" situation where both the attack and move menus are waiting on something that isn't happening or waitiing on call seems to be the most common stumbling block when your learning the game. Once you get a good feel for the game, the F3 screen will get used a lot to break different wait cycles or move commands when unexpected things happen.

[Peter Why]

Pressing zero will put a coloured circle round all titans to show their team.

[LarkinVB]

Pressing 9 will give you a status on what your titans are doing.

[elmo3]

Thanks for the tips. Guess I'll use F1 more while learning the mechanics.

[elmo3]

Here is another rookie question that is probably answered in the manual, but I can't find it:

I created a random battle (it ended up being one vs. one) and won! OK, so I got in a couple of lucky shots. Nothing like a few GME's to the head to spoil an enemy jock's day. Anyway after winning I went to the HQ to see if any XP's were awarded to the new jock. She was nowhere to be found. Did I need to save the game before victory or save it before starting to preserve her stats? Or is she there and I just haven't found her yet?Thanks.

[LarkinVB]

Only battles with teams loaded from file are persistant. Battles with random teams do not carry over. They are one shot.

[elmo3]

OK, thanks for the quick reply. I'll still take the win! [;)]

[Peter Why]

I've you've not already eaten them up, the game installs with one valid team which you can use as if you'd created them yourself. I saved mine fairly early after installing the game and can send you a copy if you want it. Which patch do you have installed?

[elmo3]

I'm using 1.2 Just played a battle with them and we were humiliated. We were too spread out and they took us apart piecemeal. All jocks lived to tell the tale with some miraculous ejections. However we only have enough $ for two replacement Titans. We're going back into the arena tonight for revenge, and cash!

[elmo3]

Peter

I'm happy to report you don't need to send me the file just yet. Our squad managed to win two battles tonight so we're back up to three Titans with some cash in the bank. In the first we had a Gauntlet and a Jackal against a Mangler that wasn't too tough a fight. For the second battle I added a Deimos and we went up against a Dagger and a Ghost. We had the edge in CC weapons and literally cut them down to size. [:D] Good fun!

elmo3

[elmo3]

Enjoying this game a lot, but one thing is confusing. When I come up against a new enemy Titan and don't get a green scan I haven't a clue what it's capabilities are. Is that howthe designers intended it to be played?

If not is there any way to call up the database during play to check out the weapons or other parameters? If not is there a way to print out a summary, short of doing screen captures of them in the facotry?

Thanks.

Edit - Tried doing an export and it worked but it doesn't look like that file is intended to be readable. I think LarkinVB already said that elsewhere.

[LarkinVB]

Call up the pinboard in the factory and you will find a text file of that titan in data/print folder to print or look at. Otherwise the game is of course made to perfectly scan a titan to get its capabilities if you meet him for the first time.

[elmo3]

OK, thanks. Saw the pinboard but forgot to check it out. I agree on the scanning, but my rookies seem to take forever to scan, and then fail anyway, so I usually feel the need to fire first!

[elmo3]

I'll be going on vacation tomorrow so you guys will get a break from all my questions! However, before I go...

Does anyone have some guidelines on when to accept a Titan and when to take the cash at the end of a battle? The first time one was offered it was a no brainer as I was just about broke. The second time I took the Titan (a Jackal). Now I have to pay upkeep on it so I'm thinking it was a mistake. Can always recruit another jock I guess. It cost so much to repair I'd probably have to sell it at a loss. So are there any thoughts on when to take the Titan vs the cash? Thanks.

I'm tempted to load TOS on my wife's laptop for the vacation, but that is a battle I'd rather not fight. [;)] The manul will probably fall into my suitcase by accident though.

[Thorgrim]

If you have an idea of the average cost of a titan in each weight class, and knowing that you'll get 50~65% of its cost in the hq (and that it'll be damaged), you can make a rough guess. The value that's offered to you is random, so there is no absolut answer.

[elmo3]

OK, that makes sense. Thanks.

[elmo3]

Another rookie question:

Do most random games end up in close combat slugging matches?

So far it seems that way, but my squads are still rookie/green. I'm not complaining, just wondering if that changes at higher levels. My longer range fire usually misses so CC seems inevitable. Seems like a viable rookie strategy is all CC Titans and just rush the enemy.

Anyone with more experience have any thoughts? Thanks.