I'm not talking about the Kobayashi Maru, which was hackable, but scenarios you genuinely can't win, no matter how many cheat-saves you try. I've seen two, and they were very similar.
I'm currently running a campaign, which I'm playing with what are virtually Clan mechs, and a 'straight' career. Interestingly, the no-win scenario has popped up twice in the campaign.
I could've listed in my 'things I've never seen before' thread, as each time it happened on a map I'd never seen before… or since. Each time it was a badlands map; each time it was projected as a 5-skull mission; and each time it was a set-the-beacons mission, which I usually excel at. So, what made them impossible? Primarily it was the mission type, as with only ten turns I couldn't use my usual 'roll left/right' tactic to isolate on part of the enemy force and whittle them down.
You see, in this one the scenario objectives start right out listing three enemy lances you have to face… and they're all on the map. On turn one you spot the first lance. On turn two you get shot at by the first lance using direct fire and the second lance using indirect. On turn three you're shot at by two lances using direct fire and the third one chimes in with indirect. By turn four all three enemy lances are getting direct fire shots on you. AND THEY'RE CONCENTRATING THEIR FIRE!
As you probably know, in set-the-beacon scenarios there's usually one beacon location relatively near you and two on the opposite side of the installation, each separated from the others by 120 degrees. (You enter at 6 o'clock; the beacons are placed at 6, 2 and 10.) Standard procedure (for me) has been to rush the nearest location with the entire lance, then send two mechs to hit each of the other locations. Easy peasy. In this one the locations are still separated by 120 degrees, but two of them are kinda/sorta on your side of the installation and the third is as far away from you as it can be. (You enter at 6 o'clock; the beacons are to be placed at 4, 8 and 12.) As a result I split the lance with the Bull Sharks heading toward 8 o'clock, and the Atlas/Highlander to 4 o'clock.
It's an open question for me whether I can even get to the farthest location within the time limit (I suspect not), because I've never gotten close to it.
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A poster here a few days ago mentioned that it had been a long time since he'd played with an mech under 70 tons. My hot take was derisory… until I remembered that I was playing with Clan mechs, so this was very much a pot-and-kettle situation. At any rate, my force is set up so I can run lances at every half-skull increment from 145 tons up to 380. I always try to match my force to the threat level, though to be fair I should probably be using lances one full skull lower than the projected threat level. For a 5 skull mission I run an Atlas II, 2 Bull Sharks with the Thumpers and a Star League Highlander as my missile boat — all of them with jump jets.
Now you might be thinking I should either ditch the jump jets for additional weaponry or use faster mechs. On a badlands map the additional weaponry will just slow me down and make me overheat faster. My next two lances in terms of size are a 4/6/0 group (Cyclops HQ/Marauder 3D/Warhammer 6D/Archer 2S) and a 4/6/4 (2 Victors/Grasshopper/Thunderbolt SE). Even the lance with the Marauder's damage resistance would be dead in a New York minute. (All of my mechs have maxed out their armor, and have the +3 to be hit gyroscopes and +3 to be hit pilots. This company has over 5200 days in their campaign.)
The first time I encountered this Sumire set the lance down on the other side of a chasm from all three beacon locations. If I hadn't had the jump jets it would've been impossible to even set one. As it was it took until turn 5 to set one (using the Atlas II), by which time all of my mechs except the missile boat were shot up AND in deep heat difficulty. I had destroyed 5 of the 12 OpFor mechs, but I would've lost the Atlas (it was down for the second time) and probably one of the Bull Sharks the next turn, and I never would've set even the second beacon.
The second time I got the first beacon set on turn 4 (Atlas again) and had taken out 4 of 12 mechs (2 of 4 heavies and 2 of 8 assaults). It was a miracle the Atlas survived long enough for me to withdraw. I could probably have taken out another heavy and (with luck) an assault on turn 5, and by turn 6 could probably have placed the second beacon, but even if I ONLY(!) lost the Atlas II I don't think I could ever have made it to the third location.
In both scenarios 8 of the 12 OpFor mechs concentrated their fire on the Atlas and nobody fired on the missile boat. In the first, the Bull Sharks faced 4 assaults who distributed their damage pretty evenly (from the movie Dragnet, "Deep and crisp and even."); in the second they faced 4 heavies and were giving much better than they got.
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Have any of you guys faced a no-win scenario?
I'm currently running a campaign, which I'm playing with what are virtually Clan mechs, and a 'straight' career. Interestingly, the no-win scenario has popped up twice in the campaign.
I could've listed in my 'things I've never seen before' thread, as each time it happened on a map I'd never seen before… or since. Each time it was a badlands map; each time it was projected as a 5-skull mission; and each time it was a set-the-beacons mission, which I usually excel at. So, what made them impossible? Primarily it was the mission type, as with only ten turns I couldn't use my usual 'roll left/right' tactic to isolate on part of the enemy force and whittle them down.
You see, in this one the scenario objectives start right out listing three enemy lances you have to face… and they're all on the map. On turn one you spot the first lance. On turn two you get shot at by the first lance using direct fire and the second lance using indirect. On turn three you're shot at by two lances using direct fire and the third one chimes in with indirect. By turn four all three enemy lances are getting direct fire shots on you. AND THEY'RE CONCENTRATING THEIR FIRE!
As you probably know, in set-the-beacon scenarios there's usually one beacon location relatively near you and two on the opposite side of the installation, each separated from the others by 120 degrees. (You enter at 6 o'clock; the beacons are placed at 6, 2 and 10.) Standard procedure (for me) has been to rush the nearest location with the entire lance, then send two mechs to hit each of the other locations. Easy peasy. In this one the locations are still separated by 120 degrees, but two of them are kinda/sorta on your side of the installation and the third is as far away from you as it can be. (You enter at 6 o'clock; the beacons are to be placed at 4, 8 and 12.) As a result I split the lance with the Bull Sharks heading toward 8 o'clock, and the Atlas/Highlander to 4 o'clock.
It's an open question for me whether I can even get to the farthest location within the time limit (I suspect not), because I've never gotten close to it.
************************************************************************************************************************************
A poster here a few days ago mentioned that it had been a long time since he'd played with an mech under 70 tons. My hot take was derisory… until I remembered that I was playing with Clan mechs, so this was very much a pot-and-kettle situation. At any rate, my force is set up so I can run lances at every half-skull increment from 145 tons up to 380. I always try to match my force to the threat level, though to be fair I should probably be using lances one full skull lower than the projected threat level. For a 5 skull mission I run an Atlas II, 2 Bull Sharks with the Thumpers and a Star League Highlander as my missile boat — all of them with jump jets.
Now you might be thinking I should either ditch the jump jets for additional weaponry or use faster mechs. On a badlands map the additional weaponry will just slow me down and make me overheat faster. My next two lances in terms of size are a 4/6/0 group (Cyclops HQ/Marauder 3D/Warhammer 6D/Archer 2S) and a 4/6/4 (2 Victors/Grasshopper/Thunderbolt SE). Even the lance with the Marauder's damage resistance would be dead in a New York minute. (All of my mechs have maxed out their armor, and have the +3 to be hit gyroscopes and +3 to be hit pilots. This company has over 5200 days in their campaign.)
The first time I encountered this Sumire set the lance down on the other side of a chasm from all three beacon locations. If I hadn't had the jump jets it would've been impossible to even set one. As it was it took until turn 5 to set one (using the Atlas II), by which time all of my mechs except the missile boat were shot up AND in deep heat difficulty. I had destroyed 5 of the 12 OpFor mechs, but I would've lost the Atlas (it was down for the second time) and probably one of the Bull Sharks the next turn, and I never would've set even the second beacon.
The second time I got the first beacon set on turn 4 (Atlas again) and had taken out 4 of 12 mechs (2 of 4 heavies and 2 of 8 assaults). It was a miracle the Atlas survived long enough for me to withdraw. I could probably have taken out another heavy and (with luck) an assault on turn 5, and by turn 6 could probably have placed the second beacon, but even if I ONLY(!) lost the Atlas II I don't think I could ever have made it to the third location.
In both scenarios 8 of the 12 OpFor mechs concentrated their fire on the Atlas and nobody fired on the missile boat. In the first, the Bull Sharks faced 4 assaults who distributed their damage pretty evenly (from the movie Dragnet, "Deep and crisp and even."); in the second they faced 4 heavies and were giving much better than they got.
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Have any of you guys faced a no-win scenario?
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