Revisions to MechWarrior Abilities, 1.3 Release

[Amechwarrior]

So I've been playing a harder than normal career with 8 part salvage and BetterAI and AI Crit Chance set to one. I've found that I'm still ending up with Bulwark on 3/4ths of the team. When you are dropping in to 2 skulls with the starting Lance you really need everything you can and Bulwark/Sure Foot pilots are my mainstay. I'm still going Sensor Lock/Sure Foot for some, but until they get Ace Pilot, I feel their pain when they got counter-Locked and focused.

In my limited endgame play, I have enough raw firepower it doesn't matter as much. I did a good split between either Bulwark and Sure Foot lines and then the other two skill tracks for about 2/3rd of my pilots and the last third was Bulwark/Sure Foot combos. There, the added stability and Evasion combined with To-Hit Gyros makes the AI shoot other targets and I can kill things fast enough it doesn't matter after a few rounds. I can do 0 Bulwark runs and be OK, and it's even actually good on Lunar missions. But it's really my firepower and called shots to the head that are pulling the weight. The enemy doesn't get the numbers to drain my Evasion because they die quickly.

With the 8 part career, I'm about 100 days in and up to the 2 skull contracts with the starting Lance + 1 more JR7. I'm finding Evasion works just fine in a 4v4 or less situation, even when grossly out tonned by the enemy Lance with full armor. I can keep my Pips high across my Lance and not take internal damage, even with some shots slipping through. I'm spending my Resolve on P.Strikes for salvage more than I'm using it for Vigilance, I can regularly pilot incap half the Lance for salvage. Pushing back 25% of the firing force is a big deal and can significantly cut down on return fire if you cripple or destroy it before it can act.

When I face 6+ and specially if they Lock, Evasion just doesn't cut it anymore and it's Vigilance I fall back on. I can't afford to only set back one unit when 7 others are chipping away at me and need the most damage reductions possible, Bulwark pilot or not. Facing a Lance + Turrets isn't really getting me in this situation either, I always just fall back and they become a non-issue. It's just when you have 2+ Lances at once where I think Sure Footing fails me. I can do those assassination or Base Defense missions with three spread out Lances just fine and with no or minimal repairs. But do a Convoy Assault? That's going to hurt my bottom line for sure.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

“Malus.”

Malus is not a four-letter word.


It is actually a five-letter word. : )

My history with this latest Ability Revision began when Kiva posted the very first BATTLETECH Dev Diary.

Over the course of my Military Career I’ve learned to put a certain level of stock in my first impressions...


...and as I loaded the Ability Revision Beta for the first few matches, i was initially not a big fan of the proposed changes. I had been an Plankholding Proponent of BULWARK and did not like what had been done with MY Bulwark.

LOL : )

I can’t help but laugh about how utterly WRONG I was.

See, for me gameplay is “the thing.”

Not just one tactic.

Not just old-School-Bulwark.

Not a new-School Sure-footed-Bulwarking-MechWarrior in a progression of Spider/Wolverine/Grasshopper/Highlander BattleMechs! (Though, THAT is my current “Go To” for both Solo and Multiplayer.)

But the overall impact to gameplay, is what is important to me.

And even though it took into my 5th or 7th Ability Revision Match (a Multiplayer Match by the way) I eventually reversed my position and begin to wholeheartedly champion the HBS’s efforts to... better shape BATTLETECH gameplay.


And sometimes it is the interaction of Bonus and Malus that helps HBS find that sweet spot for “better gameplay.” Like the Instabiity that inevitably follows my DFA attempts. The Malus of my own instability (after even a successful DFA) makes the damage and instability I cause to my opponent, all the more authentic, immersive and sweeter. :bow:

I quite like the path of BATTLETECH Development that HBS has set before us.

And today is not as good as it gets, as I have zero doubt that Kiva is already brewing up future improvements and Abiity Evolutions for us. : )

 

[TheWackyWombat]

I dislike the idea of passive drawbacks on skills. The reason you should want to Not take a skill should be that it's taking the place of a different, useful skill. Otherwise, you are just making the comparison less player friendly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of having drawbacks on the skills it's just... HBS_Kiva did a great job balancing the skills, given the restrictions of the system. I have no idea if HBS is planning further changes in the future, but if they are I doubt completely (or even partially) redesigning the skill system is something the team wants to devote a ton of resources on.

When the game is all about balancing the operating costs, time and damage you take, I'd expect it's difficult to make the skills based on Guts (which is pretty much resistance) and Tactics (which is pretty much sensors) equally powerful and relevant. Giving the skills both a bonus and malus would be one way to fine tune the system without completely refactoring it, and my example sucked (I'm not a game designer), but if it was done correctly it could be a way to help feel like your Mechwarriors are actually specializing in something instead of just getting a straight buff.

If they were willing to redesign the system well... that would be an entirely different story. I'd like to see Bulwark go away (straight DR should be handled by terrain), and things like Target lock be moved to a device (Beagle probe?). My ideal change, honestly, would be the entire skill system getting removed and each mechwarrior having a 'personality' (assigned at creation) instead, something that would make them play completely differently. +1 inititive is just someone with an 'Eager' personality, Fire>Move is just 'Excellent Reflexes'. I'm sure HBS_Kiva could come up with dozens of interesting versions, without the current skill tree restrictions... you could even have negative, or lower level versions for rookies to make things more interesting.

I know HBS is a small team, so while we may see further skill changes, we're unlikely to see any major revisions (until Battletech 2 ) It may take some out of the box thinking (whatever that may be) to further refine skills going forward.

 

[yrrot]

@TheWackyWombat I agree, we probably won't see a major skills update anytime soon (maybe some tweaks or changes with Urban Warfare, at the earliest). But the current skill versions are just working rather well. Kiva took everything that was on the OP end in the preview patch, and toned it down to a bit more even balance. Compared the the launch skills, the system feels great now.

I do really like the idea of having pilots have more uniqueness from their tags, rather than just starting out with extra points (and skills) from the tree and influencing events. Having some effect on combat would make them more interesting overall.

 

[Pherdnut]

What are people doing with the coolant ability? I've had trouble taking advantage of that one since I've always gone for cool builds and tend to prefer arming weapons that can be used together most of the time over bracket builds. Building hotter only seems to allow a very slight increase in damage output for me and the added heat still feels like a liability a lot of the time.

 

[Amechwarrior]

What are people doing with the coolant ability? I've had trouble taking advantage of that one since I've always gone for cool builds and tend to prefer arming weapons that can be used together most of the time over bracket builds. Building hotter only seems to allow a very slight increase in damage output for me and the added heat still feels like a liability a lot of the time.

I got Sumo early on in my career, I've been using him in hot snipers with a couple MLs I can't quite keep firing all the time and saving it for called shots with full alphas. I can then either melee for the kill (light swarms on 2 skulls where they will be on you) or fall back on the dual LL sniper HBK that when not on Vent cooldown, can lose heat even in deserts.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

What are people doing with the coolant ability? I've had trouble taking advantage of that one since I've always gone for cool builds and tend to prefer arming weapons that can be used together most of the time over bracket builds. Building hotter only seems to allow a very slight increase in damage output for me and the added heat still feels like a liability a lot of the time.

I got Sumo early on in my career, I've been using him in hot snipers with a couple MLs I can't quite keep firing all the time and saving it for called shots with full alphas. I can then either melee for the kill (light swarms on 2 skulls where they will be on you) or fall back on the dual LL sniper HBK that when not on Vent cooldown, can lose heat even in deserts.

During my last Career Mode Run, I kept a Barracks filled to capacity, 24 MechWarriors. During the last 300 or so days, six of them were CoolantVenters ~ three Surefooted, a pair of MultuShots and a single SensorLocker.

I would platoon my Coolant Venters (three at a time) on Lunar and Martian Biomes. The Fourth always being a Called Shot Master. The Venters started out in paired AC20 Orions and a Grasshopper and moved up to paired AC20 King Crabs and a Highlander. My Called Shot Master was invariably in a an QUAD-LL and LRM20 Atlas.

Very efficient Killers, the lot of them.



What I found invaluable about Coolant Venting with the Heavies or Assaults was that even when the AI would through 2 Assault Lances at me, I had enough Damage Output that along with earlier possible use of Coolant Venting, (why wait? Get the clock started on that second Coolant Venting ASAP was my motto!) I was able to chew through / Precision Shoot my way through both Lances with nary a pause to vent Coolant that second time.

BATTLETECH as Goddess Kiva intended!

 

[Panzer-Killer]

What are people doing with the coolant ability? I've had trouble taking advantage of that one since I've always gone for cool builds and tend to prefer arming weapons that can be used together most of the time over bracket builds. Building hotter only seems to allow a very slight increase in damage output for me and the added heat still feels like a liability a lot of the time.

Well, one of my Gladiators is piloting a 4-PPC++ armed Awsome AWS-8Q is doing just fine!

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Well, one of my Gladiators is piloting a 4-PPC++ armed Awsome AWS-8Q is doing just fine!

My Mercenary Commander in my current Career Mode Run is a Gladiator. The combination of Multishot, Bulwark and Coolant Venting really brings my 6-Medium Laser, 5-Jump Jet QuickDraw to a new level. When combined with terrain-masking, Armor Sharing, and high-Evasion Tactics...

...the results have proven to be quite effective in unhinging the AI in multiple missions thus far,

ALL HAIL, the Gladiator MechWarriors!

: )

 

[Panzer-Killer]

My Mercenary Commander in my current Career Mode Run is a Gladiator. The combination of Multishot, Bulwark and Coolant Venting really brings my 6-Medium Laser, 5-Jump Jet QuickDraw to a new level. When combined with terrain-masking, Armor Sharing, and high-Evasion Tactics...

...the results have proven to be quite effective in unhinging the AI in multiple missions thus far,

ALL HAIL, the Gladiator MechWarriors!

: )

Yes, I’ve found myself that Gladiator builds are far stronger nowadays than before 1.3 patch, even though the tee Gladiator reminds me more of melee combat rather than ranged, but the same would be for Brawlers.
I guess that in 31st century Mech combat gladiator and brawlers refer more to shooting your target up close instead of from afar, then.

 

[TeaL3af]

So I've just finished a 70 hour career mode run with the new abilities and I've had some time to chew over my thoughts. Bulwark is still the best ability in the game and you'll want to have it on most of your MechWarriors. 40% damage reduction is just too good to pass up, especially in the late game where evasion becomes a lot less effective. The only time I think it's worth taking another tier 1 ability over bulwark is when you're fighting in the martian and lunar biomes as they don't have trees everywhere. The other tier 1 abilities are just more situational and generally less useful, they all have their place but you'll want them in addition to Bulwark rather than instead of Bulwark.

• Multi-Target: Comes in handy a lot, but you won't be using it every round.
  
• Sure Footing: The +1 evasion pip really doesn't matter in the late game. Reduced stability damage is nice, but it won't help overall survivabilty as much as real damage reduction.
  
• Sensor Lock: Very situational ability. It comes in handy if paired with an LRM boat, or if your mech is too hot to fire its weapons this round. The penalty to evasion and accuracy doesn't really do much in the late game so it's usually better to fire your weapons instead if you can.

The new Coolent flush ability is very good, and it seems reasonably balanced with the other tier 2 abilties. If you see a great opportunity for an alpha strike, like a 'Mech showing you its rear, it allows you to capitalize on that even when you're already close to overheating.