Matrix Games Forums

I've got the game, poured through every page of the manual, played a few single solo missions. But I don't really feel like I'm getting any better.

This is my first experience with this type of game, can some of the veterans (anybody with more experience than me) please give me some good starting strategies - like what stats to beef on my new recruites, what mech's to get, designs to make - that sort of thing.

Please, please, please
thank you

It would be easier if you give us some hints on how you did setup your initial squad and whether you succeded winning some battles. So do you need tips on building up a good starting squad or on winning battles with them ?

First battles should be either random ones against AI at lowest rank or you could try the Savannah campaign. Even easier is to fight with a random team for both you and the AI, setting your rank to medium and the AIs to low using tiny teams. This will give you a feeling for the tactical combat.

Afterwards you should build a team were your first jock should be a leader with leadership skill about 60%, second jock a manager type with business skill about 60% and third a manager with damage control about 60%. Look for the attribute requirements for these skills and choose the jocks race accordingly. This will give you a small squad of 3 jocks. Look at the jocks starting combat skills and improve those which already have good starting value. Give them piloting skills for recon/light titans and buy them recon titans which match their combat skills. Add jump skill if the titan is capable of jump. A vital 'other' skill is scanner to get some scan on the enemy.

In combat keep your squad together, choose the terrain to fight according to your weapons. Try to get a balanced squad as 3 long range titans might give you trouble in case the AI manages to sneak on you. Combat is all about maximizing you strength and minimizing your weakness. I could go on but need to know more on what problems you do have. (Excuse bad english, I'm native german).

I was hoping for some good starting strategies, so far you've got some good info.

One question, does and if so, how does jump affect combat - also, what is "Death from above" that I have seen in the forums?

The jump ability determines how effective you are at using your Mech's jump jets. With a better Jump ability, you are more likely to make successful jumps.

Death from Above is an old favorite from Battletech. It involves using your jump jets to propell your Mech into the your enemies hex, where you will be asked if you wil to make a charging attack. If you do, you will attempt to land your Mech directly on top of the enemy, therefore possibly doing massive amounts of dammage to your enemies head and torsos. However it is extremely risky and will result in some damage to yourself as well.

Hope that helps.

Jumping allows you to traverse rough terrain very fast; it takes a skill check for landing properly, though.

Death from above is slamming into an opponent feet first after jumping. Basically, you just jump into his hex and jump down. Then, a window should pop open and ask if you want to attack him.

DFA causes large amounts of damage to the upper parts of the charged titan; your legs will get damaged, though.


-Silvermane

Originally posted by Silvermane
Jumping allows you to traverse rough terrain very fast; it takes a skill check for landing properly, though.

Death from above is slamming into an opponent feet first after jumping. Basically, you just jump into his hex and jump down. Then, a window should pop open and ask if you want to attack him.

DFA causes large amounts of damage to the upper parts of the charged titan; your legs will get damaged, though.


-Silvermane

And both you and the opponent have to make piloting checks in order to avoid falling over. Therefore, it's something to be careful about. If you fall, and he doesn't you're at his mercy while trying to stand.

Originally posted by Maxim
I was hoping for some good starting strategies, so far you've got some good info.

Here are some beginners combat tips :

1. Don't shoot if you are moving.

2. Take high ground with your long range titans early.

3. Hise your close combat titans as long as possible.

4. Scanner link to the titan which do see enemies with your blind titans.

5. Concentrate fire on one enemy, avoid spreading damage.

6. Call the big map and choose a field of combat which does favor your team.

7. Note that rookie AI will have equal skill but might blunder using advanced strategies.

8. If you want your team to survive you should improve on survival skill which does give you a good chance to eject.

9. ..................

The feedback on this forum is great. Thank you for the tips so far. Please, keep em coming.

Vielen Dank Larkin

Don't feel that you must build a gigantic fighting squad immediately. Go ahead and recruit a few pilots but only send in 1 or 2 titans. you'll face less of an enemy and have a little bit of $$ left over for a rescue if you absolutely need it. Save often to avoid this last ditch decision. You can even divide your squad with a friend and play cooperatively against the computer. I did this through the savannah campaign with a nephew. It was a lot of fun.

Another tactic that works well in the first campaign is to ambush your enemies. This only works well if you have short range weapons. The wait on new enemy command is very useful for this.
Learn the hot keys as it will speed up your games.
IF there are hazards in the way, you might even get lucky and the enemy will be softened up by tripping through water or swamps. Also a good time to pop out into the open and get a few good shots in on a prone enemy. Timing is important here.

The rules of War work in TOSWS. Surprise your enemies and concentrate your firepower.

Start the campaigns with at least 2 jocks. That's the best. 3 works good too.

The AI will have fast titans too, which sometimes will make them hard to hit when dashing full speed through the map. Wait for it to stop, or turn (make it have to turn if possible) to shoot at it, so you don't have the speed penalty. Make it cross water, it'll walk and be easier to hit. Hopefully it'll fall down and be even easier. Torch the woods in its path.

When an enemy is down without a leg or something, switch to the next trying to keep out of its arc of fire if possible. Finish it off in the mop up phase. Use the downed titans to gain scan XPs with those titans of yours that are badly damaged - keeping them out of the fight.

Choice of titans and jocks is very important.

Does crouching have any effect other than being a pain to get up?

(I'm still learning)

Of course. Your titans height is halved making it harder to hit and reducing LOS accordingly. All range attacks by a crouched titan are at +5% to hit, all skill checks are at -5%. A crouched titan can not engage in close combat and cannot use weapons located in the lower torso and/or legs.

Hey Larkin, does that mean I can still use my power axe and tesla bolt while crouched (assuming tesla is on back)?

Your power axe is replacing you punch and can not be used while crouched. Back firing weapons can only be used against targets in hexes behind you or in the same hex if you are already moving to leave it. So both : NO

So what is/are a weapon set for crouching, it seems like with the benefits gained there would be an offensive arsenal available to it as well.

I haven't tried yet, but can you mount a weapon on your head then?

Are the negative modifiers really that bad when you add the positives to it?

Not sure if I understood correctly. All weapons in the LA/RA/LT/CT/RT/head can fire when you're crouched.
On a related topic, when prone, only weapons mounted in the arms and head can fire. This is why arms and head should be the primary locations for weapons.

Of course. There's no restriction to the mounting of weapons except for the 15 limit. And the requirements of each weapon, but that's not the point.

? They are so bad as to make the game balanced

Does Rank have anything to do with anything other than a title? I have slowly been going up in Rank but really haven't seen a change yet...

Of course it does. Being promoted to a new rank does give additional dev points for character enhancement in the HQ. New leader rank does allow to buy new chassis classes. Furthermore the piloting skills of bigger titans have minimum ranks too. So the answer is YES !

It's all in the documentation! So RTFM!! :p

Is that a forum FAQ I see on the horizon? It looks like it's coming this way.

This thread is full of useful info, Maxim.