Game Name- MechCommander Gold Weapons Analysis
Author- Patrick H. Kerensky
Date- June 13th 2008
Version - 1.8
Author Notes-
First FAQ. Whoop. Let’s get this going.
Table of Contents
1- Overview of weapons
2- Energy Weapons
3- Ballistic Weapons
4- Missile Weapons
5- Sensors and Other Miscellaneous Gear
6- MechCommander Gold Expansion Weapons
7- Major Logistical Guidelines
8- General Weapon Tips and Information
9- Legal information and credits
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1. Overview
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Powering every vehicle and battlemech are weapon and sensor components. By
having a thorough understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, you will
have a *much* easier time dealing with enemy units. You'll also learn what to
bring (and not to bring) and overall field better units. Half the battle is
correctly identifying enemy units and what they carry, the other half (the
technical specs of each weapon) will be adequately covered by this guide.
Although you can't change the overall tonnage, armor values, or engine size on
the battlemechs, you can switch out the weapons payload. The computer will
always use the mechs in their 'default configuration', but you will have a
much higher degree of success if you custom fit your battle mechs with weapons
that better suit the situation (or what you have to work with).
Although all weapons fall into 3 major classes: Energy, Ballistic, and Missile;
there are two tiers of technology present in the game. You technology base is
Inner Sphere, and the enemy's is Clan. Inner Sphere weapons *are* good, each of
them having a purpose, but the Clan's weapons systems are superior. Clan
weapons are a little lighter (meaning you can hold more of them), or they
feature better damage, recycle, or range values. Some Clan weapons aren't
vastly superior to their Inner Sphere relatives, but some are technological
wonders that can turn any mech into an offensive powerhouse.
Whenever possible, do not turn down the opportunity to salvage Clan technology.
It is simply too good to pass up, and honestly, your Inner Sphere battlemechs
need the superior weapons. You don't want to get your pilots killed over clan
technology, but certain clan weapons are more than worth a couple extra grand
of repairs.
Every weapon has a cost, a recycle time, damage value, range, and load weight.
Non energy weapons also have a limited amount of ammo. Before we dive into the
specifics on everything lets go over each of these for a second.
Cost
This value only matters when it comes time for you to sell a component back
to battalion. Battalion will only pay 1/2 the cash value for anything, and
even worse, the item is removed from the game *permanently*. Battalion for some
reason doesn’t put the resold weapon back on the market, so everything you sell
is gone for good. Keep that in mind before you decide to sell something.
Recycle Time
This measures the amount of time that must elapse for the weapon to recharge
or reload (and dissipate excessive heat that was generated). After a shot is
fired, you must wait AT LEAST this number (of seconds) before the weapon can
fire again. The weapon may not fire immediately when it is ready to (for a
list of reasons we will cover later on).
Damage
This tells you how hard each shot hits. When the projectile makes contact
with the enemy this damage amount will be applied to the armor (or internal
structure if the armor is gone / not strong enough). Higher values signify
weapons that can blow straight through weaker armor to penetrate the fragile
components underneath.
Range
All weapons are one of three ranges: short, medium, and long. Short range
weapons have a range of 0-75 m, Medium is 25-150 m, and Long is 50-225 m.
Medium and Long range weapons all share one very important fact, they both
have a minimum range; if your opponents get within this range of your mechs,
these weapon WILL NOT FIRE, meaning those ER PPCs and Gauss Rifles are
useless.
Load Weight
Every mech has a limit to how much gross tonnage of weapons they can hold, and
the Load Weight represents the weapon, it's ammo, and the heat sinks that need
to be installed for the weapon to fire. If you have exactly 9 tons of weight
left, then you simply *cannot* load the 9.5 ton Light Ultra AC on your mech.
Now that we have all of the stats that the game will give you, its time to
add a few more 'values' into the pool. I have created both of these to help
show you which weapons are better bangs for your RPs, and which weapons you
need to avoid/sell ASAP.
Power
This is how much damage a weapon will cause in a full minute of fire. We are
assuming that each shot fires *exactly* when the weapon is ready to fire
again, and that each shot hits its mark. We also ignore other things that
would cause you to delay shooting (loss of target, loss of ammo, falling down)
or that would cause your shot to miss (gunnery, moving targets, luck). This
value represents a perfect world, and will in reality be far far less.
Effectiveness
Divide the above Power rating by the weapon's load weight, and you get this.
All it does is tell you which weapons are ton for ton better damage dealers.
Bang For Buck
Divide the cost by the weapon's power rating. For mechcommanders operating on a
tight budget and those that need some additional weapons, this rating tells you
what's worth your money. The numbers are X Resource Points per point of power,
so lower numbers are better. After all if you can spend 300 RPs or 3k RPs on two
different weapons that do the same thing, you will (usually) want the cheaper
one. This number also gives you a good idea of just how valuable your salvage
is. Higher numbers indicate weapons that are costly for what they do,
signifying weapons that are better salvage.
With all that out of the way, lets get take a closer look at each weapon,
starting with the energy weapon class.
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2. Energy Weapons
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Energy weapons tend to be efficient as far as damage to weight, but suffer
from longer reloads and lower damage values. Energy weapons do however have one
very important trait: no ammo. Long term missions or missions will lots of
targets demand that every mech you field has at least one energy weapon.
Another important thing about this is that there is no ammo at risk for
blowing up (ammo explosions), which in later missions starts happening more
frequently due to them being more combat intensive.
Laser
1,060 RP
4.0 Tons
Short Range
5.00 Recycle Time
2.0 Damage per shot
Power: 24
Effectiveness: 6.000
Bang for Buck: 44.17
Large Laser
4,480 RP
9.5 Tons
Medium Range
5.0 Recycle Time
4.0 Damage per shot
Power: 48
Effectiveness: 5.053
Bang for Buck: 93.34
The Laser and Large Laser are the base for all energy weapons. Both fire
slowly and deal minor damage, but the real reason you would want to use these
weapons are that the laser's load value is fairly low and the weapons never run
out of ammo. Lasers also have an incredible effectiveness rating. Loading up a
mech exclusively with lasers (not uncommon with low budget commanders),
produces a unit that can unload enormous amounts of firepower (in 5 second
bursts). The Large Laser is still a good choice, but is not quite as effective
as a regular Laser.
Large Extended Range (ER) Laser
5,210 RP
11.0 Tons
Long Range
5.0 Recycle Time
4.0 Damage per shot
Power: 48
Effectiveness: 4.364
Bang for Buck: 108.54
The Large ER laser is identical stat-wise to the Large Laser except that the
beam can be fired at long range. Although there are better weapons out there,
this weapon is ideal for (slowly) removing pesky base defenses from a safe
distance. The lack of ammo concerns means you can save your LRMs and Gauss
Rifle shots for more worthwhile targets (mechs and vehicles).
Clan ER Laser
2,380 RP
3.5 Tons
Medium Range
5.00 Recycle Time
2.0 Damage per shot
Power: 24
Effectiveness: 6.857
Bang for Buck: 99.17
Clan Large ER Laser
9,690 RP
10.0 Tons
Long Range
5.0 Recycle Time
5.0 Damage per shot
Power: 60
Effectiveness: 6.000
Bang for Buck: 161.50
The clan's basic laser upgrades result in two ER lasers that improve on load
space over their Inner Sphere counterparts. The large ER laser even does more
damage, which makes an already decent weapon even better. Since the computer
will generally fight you at medium range, these two weapons are much more
useful thanks to their better ranges. Because of thier better effectiveness
ratings, you should phase out your IS Laser supplies with these two cLan
replacements.
Pulse Laser
1,130 RP
6.0 Tons
Short Range
1.75 Recycle Time
1.0 Damage per shot
Power: 34
Effectiveness: 5.667
Bang for Buck: 33.24
Large Pulse Laser
4,350 RP
12.0 Tons
Medium Range
2.0 Recycle Time
2.0 Damage per shot
Power: 60
Effectiveness: 5.000
Bang for Buck: 72.50
Pulse lasers are faster firing lasers than their regular counterparts. The
faster firing rate comes at only a minor loss of damage, so provided your
pilots are better gunners, pulse lasers provide more power and thus (over time)
more damage than regular lasers. The only downside is that like most of the
other energy weapons, they have larger than usual load values.
Clan Pulse Laser
1,700 RP
4.0 Tons
Short Range
1.75 Recycle Time
1.0 Damage per shot
Power: 34
Effectiveness: 8.570
Bang for Buck: 50.00
Clan Large Pulse Laser
8,010 RP
11.0 Tons
Medium Range
2.0 Recycle Time
2.5 Damage per shot
Power: 75
Effectiveness: 6.818
Bang for Buck: 106.80
The Clan Pulse Lasers are truly valuable weapons. The regular Inner Sphere
Laser and the Clan Pulse Laser have the same 4 ton load value, while the clan
Pulse Laser retains the same higher power. The result makes the Clan Pulse
Laser the most size/effective weapon in the game. The Large Pulse laser damage
upgrade, although minor, makes this weapon VERY powerful as well. Battlemechs
looking for extended combat duty *need* to make room for one of these weapons.
Consider the Clan Pulse Lasers two of the more valuable Clan weapons; every
attempt to salvage them will be very worthwhile.
Heavy Flamer
2,030 RP
8.0 Tons
Short Range
7.5 Recycle Time
5.0 Damage per shot
Power: 40
Effectiveness: 5.000
Bang for Buck: 50.75
The Heavy Flamer can't fire as fast as other weapons, and the power this weapon
provides is inferior to a pair of lasers, or a SRM/Streak SRM duo. So why would
you want to bother with Flamers? They deal a ton of damage in one concentrated
shot, which allows you to make holes instead of dents in the enemy’s armor.
Even the light weight mechs can benefit from this heavy hitting weapon due to
its relatively lower weight limit. Although the situation will make the final
call, heavy flamers make a good addition to mechs seeking to improve their
short range bite.
Clan Heavy Flamer
3,620 RP
7.0 Tons
Short Range
6.0 Recycle Time
5.0 Damage per shot
Power: 50
Effectiveness: 7.143
Bang for Buck: 72.40
Improvements in both load value and recycle time make the Clan Heavy Flamer
another one of the more valuable Clan weapons. It can fit on mechs of any size,
and can can do serious armor piercing damage. Although you probably don't want
to add them to your lightest of battlemechs (low armor), they serve a very
useful and lethal short range addition to any mech payload.
Particle Projectile Cannon (PPC)
6,900 RP
12.0 Tons
Medium Range
7.5 Recycle Time
7.5 Damage per shot
Power: 60
Effectiveness: 5.000
Bang for Buck: 115.00
ER PPC
7,210 RP
15.5 Tons
Long Range
7.5 Recycle Time
7.5 Damage per shot
Power: 60
Effectiveness: 3.871
Bang for Buck: 120.17
The PPC weapons are both highly preferred weapons of mechwarriors, commanders,
heck everyone. These weapons both fire very slowly but deliver near devastating
punch to decent ranges. The Firestarter W, a lowly 30 tons, comes with a PPC on
default, and you will see very quickly that even medium class mechs can fall to
a good shot from one of these things. The ER version adds 3.5 additional tons
to extend the weapon range to Long; a worthwhile addition.
Clan ER PPC
21,450 RP
13.5 Tons
Long Range
7.5 Recycle Time
11.25 Damage per shot
Power: 90
Effectiveness: 6.667
Bang for Buck: 239.33
Several Clan improvements are good, but this one is *so* good that many
mechcommanders place the Clan ER PPC as one of the most valuable and all
around powerful weapons in the game. It's Long range, 2 tons lighter than
the Inner Sphere version, and deals and extra 50% damage. Most other weapons
make some serious sacrifices to achieve long range distance, but this weapon
*isn't* one of them! This weapon is so useful and rare that missions where you
lose even one can be considered a serious loss. Cherish this weapon for it is
one that mixes everything just right, and make every effort to salvage them.
Ballistic weapons tend to be larger than other weapons of comparable
value, but enjoy very high power ratings due to their combination of higher
damage and faster rate of fire. One important issue is that all of these
weapons (except the light autocannons) have limited (or extremely limited) ammo
constraints. You'll need to use ammo conservation intensively in order to
ensure that every shot counts, and you'll have to keep in mind that as long as
you have ammo for these in your mechs, you risk blowing up internally should
those mechs get seriously shot up.
Heavy AutoCannon
10,890 RP
19.5 Tons
Short Range
7.5 Recycle Time
15.00 Damage per shot
13 Shots
Power: 120
Effectiveness: 6.154
Bang for Buck: 90.75
The Heavy AutoCannon is a truly terrifying weapon. When you see any units that
carry it (Bulldogs, Hunchbacks) you *NEED* to snap to attention and immediately
take them down (or run away). If left alone (or worse ignored) you will find
one of your pilots ejecting before you know what happened. There are plenty of
reasons to steer clear of the Hvy AC: massive load weight, long reload,
expensive, and short range. To top everything off: 13 shots. That’s just over a
minute and a half of firing. But the bonuses of bringing it along? It can blow
arms and legs off in a single shot. A torso hit is *very* likely to penetrate
armor and damage internal structure. Since most mechs also store ammo in their
torsos, you're looking at a likely instant ammo explosion too. A headshot would
be an instant kill. The benefits and drawbacks are severe, but with a little
bit of tactical to-do, one can make the most of this very powerful weapon.
Clan Heavy Ultra AutoCannon
27,400 RP
21.0 Tons
Short Range
5.0 Recycle Time
15.00 Damage per shot
10 Shots
Power: 150 (180)
Effectiveness: 7.143 (8.571)
Bang for Buck: 182.67 (152.22)
Improvements in the rate of fire change the already deadly Hvy AC into the
single most damaging weapon you can carry. You'll notice the Power rating has
two numbers there. The one outside parenthesis is the true value, but one very
important fact should be known, the Hvy Ultra AC can't sustain fire for a full
minute. With only a crappy **10** shots, the cannon will shoot for only 50
seconds. Provided that the cannon could fire those last two shots, the power
(and thus effectiveness) ratings would be what they are in the parenthesis. It
goes without saying that you *must* conserve ammo with this gun. It will tear
holes through your enemies fast, but if you let those precious 10 shots go to
waste on armored cars (or even light mechs in the later game), then the point
of bringing the weapon in the first place is gone. Unless you can guarantee a
mission will be short, ONLY bring this weapon if you have a way to reload it.
AutoCannon
7,000 RP
15.5 Tons
Medium Range
5.0 Recycle Time
6.00 Damage per shot
40 Shots
Power: 72
Effectiveness: 4.645
Bang for Buck: 97.22
The AutoCannon sports some decent traits. Average recycle time and strong
damage make the AC a good choice for combat intensive battlemechs. The ammo
constraint tends to become a problem when you're midway through a fairly long
mission. As long as you make sure that units armed with the AC are using ammo
conservation mode to fight and saving the AC for worthwhile treats, you'll find
that the AC is a very strong anti-mech weapon. Another real drawback is the
slightly larger than usual load value, which makes this weapon useable only by
larger mechs.
Clan Ultra AutoCannon
12,590 RP
13.5 Tons
Medium Range
4.0 Recycle Time
6.00 Damage per shot
30 Shots
Power: 90
Effectiveness: 6.667
Bang for Buck: 139.89
Like the Hvy Ultra AutoCannon, the Clan's Ultra AutoCannon has a slightly lower
amount of ammo. Coupled with the faster firing time, the weapon will run dry in
two minutes! The gun however *does* improve on load value. This is one case
where the Inner Sphere has a slight advantage. If you have access to refit bays
or ammo trucks, then the Clan counterpart is better, but longer missions (or
more targets) may force you to stick with the regular AutoCannon.
Light AutoCannon
1,410 RP
9.5 Tons
Long Range
2.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per shot
100 Shots
Power: 30
Effectiveness: 3.159
Bang for Buck: 47.00
Light Ultra AutoCannon
2,740 RP
11.0 Tons
Long Range
1.3 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per shot
112 Shots
Power: 45
Effectiveness: 4.091
Bang for Buck: 60.89
The fast firing Light AC is a decent choice for salvaging mechs at long range,
and you are very unlikely to run out of ammo, but the low damage output and
large load value makes the Inner Sphere Light AC the least effective weapon in
the game. You should probably steer clear of it entirely and sell it back to
battalion ASAP. There are much better weapons out there for your mechs to use.
The Ultra AutoCannon on the other hand upgrade fixes this problem to some
extent, adding an even faster firing rate and even more ammo. The result is a
higher damage output overall. This weapon should be used to take care of
smaller targets at long range. If you can afford the extra 1.5 tons, take the
Light Ultra AC over the regular version, and if you cant, then you are usually
better off with picking a different weapon entirely.
Clan Light Ultra AutoCannon
3,550 RP
8.5 Tons
Long Range
1.3 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per shot
112 Shots
Power: 45
Effectiveness: 5.294
Bang for Buck: 78.89
This Clan Ultra Cannon model actually has the same amount of ammo as the Inner
Sphere cousin, but enjoys a significant load weight advantage. This means
nearly any unit can field one of these, taking out small targets at long range
with ease. Using this, some of your lighter weight mechs can even provide fire
support in some fights without risk of being annihilated. The gun isn’t a heavy
hitter, but its very powerful for how little it weighs.
Gauss Rifle
15,150 RP
16.5 Tons
Long Range
5.0 Recycle Time
7.50 Damage per shot
16 Shots
Power: 90
Effectiveness: 5.455
Bang for Buck: 168.33
A powerful long range weapon just like the ER PPC, the Gauss Rifle fires even
faster, giving it a much higher power rating. The gun is carried by quite a few
foes and can also destroy a mech before you know it. The drawback of the gun is
the 16 shots that is comes with; not enough unless you can keep the gun from
wasting ammo on worthless units. If you have to choose between this and the
ER PPC, consider whether or not 16 shots (and not all of them will hit mind
you) is enough to get you through. If you can spare a couple extra seconds of
reload time, then the ER PPC is better for longer missions. But the rapid fire
of the Gauss is better if you can keep the ammo flowing.
Clan Gauss Rifle
18,520 RP
13.5 Tons
Long Range
5.0 Recycle Time
7.50 Damage per shot
16 Shots
Power: 90
Effectiveness: 6.667
Bang for Buck: 205.78
Just like the Inner Sphere version, the Clan's Gauss Rifle has only 16 shots.
This model does enjoy a weight advantage, for which could be used to add extra
support weapons on your mech. The Clan's ER PPC is easily a better deal thanks
to the unlimited ammo it has. That’s not to say this weapon is useless, in fact
its very powerful and rare just like the Clan ER PPC. Its just that you need
those 13.5 tons for a weapon that won't run dry after only a quarter the way
into the mission. Again if you can refit the ammo midway through, then this
weapon will pay off for you in the end.
Missile weapons are low power weapons; only in larger packs can they hope to
hit as hard as other weapons. Missiles do enjoy a strong tactical benefit:
they can be fired over walls and forests. This means a unit that can stay
behind a wall can effectively make those ER PPCs and Gauss Rifles useless.
Furthermore they are tiny and any mech can carry several of them.
The missile packs also resolve damage a little differently than the other
weapons. When they fire, the fire in pairs, and not all the missiles will hit.
The damage value will tell you how much each individual missile does, and the
power rating will assume that at least 1/2 the missiles hit their mark.
Short Range Missile Pack
410 RP
3.0 Tons
Short Range
4.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per missile
62 Shots (31 salvos)
Power: 15
Effectiveness: 5.000
Bang for Buck: 27.33
Clan Short Range Missile Pack
740 RP
3.0 Tons
Short Range
3.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per missile
83 Shots (41 salvos)
Power: 20
Effectiveness: 37.00
Bang for Buck: 12.70
Short Range missile packs are filler weapons. They lack punch, and half of your
shots will usually miss. But they are very light and inexpensive. You will
quickly have a massive pile of SRMs, but the Clan SRMs are extremely rare (none
of the clan mechs carry them, so you can only salvage them from component
warehouses, of which there is only one place I know of). As long as your mechs
don't already have a large amount of missiles already, there's no loss from
filling those last 6 tons with 2 SRM packs.
Streak Short Range Missile Pack
1,300 RP
5.0 Tons
Short Range
4.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per missile, 2.00 damage per salvo
62 Shots (31 salvos)
Power: 30
Effectiveness: 6.000
Bang for Buck: 43.33
Clan Streak Short Range Missile Pack
1,450 RP
4.75 Tons
Short Range
3.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per missile, 2.00 damage per salvo
83 Shots (41 salvos)
Power: 40
Effectiveness: 8.421
Bang for Buck: 36.25
Streak Short Range Missiles on the other hand are *excellent* weapons, even for
green mechwarriors. They will only fire when a hit is guaranteed (for both
missiles). Even though the missiles still do 1 damage, streak SRMs
theoretically do twice as much damage since both missiles will always hit.
Clan versions fire even faster and weigh less, making the Clan Streak SRM the
second most efficient weapon in the game. Make every effort to keep a hold of
every Clan Streak SRM pack you can.
Long Range Missile Pack
1,760 RP
4.0 Tons
Long Range
10.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per missile
24 Shots (8 salvos)
Power: 12
Effectiveness: 3.000
Bang for Buck: 146.67
Clan Long Range Missile Pack
2,340 RP
3.0 Tons
Long Range
3.0 Recycle Time
1.00 Damage per missile
24 Shots (8 salvos)
Power: 12
Effectiveness: 4.000
Bang for Buck: 195.00
The Long Range missles aren't as effective as their shorter range counterparts
but they are deadly when grouped together and stuck on units fortified behind
thick walls. Many base defenders you come across will use this tactic, so its
important to learn how to counter it early. Another favorite place to use
loads of LRMs are in thick forests, where it's difficult to get close to the
enemy. Clan LRM versions aren’t any superior in terms of firepower, but the 3
ton load makes them as versatile fillers on mechs as regular SRM packs.
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5. Sensors and Other Miscellaneous Gear
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The following section outlines all of the games sensor packs and the other
pieces of gear that provide additional bonuses to detecting units.
Basic Sensor
1,000 RP
350 meter range
0.0 Tons
Intermediate Sensor
2,000 RP
470 meter range
0.5 Tons
Advanced Sensor
6,000 RP
525 meter range
1.0 Tons
Clan Standard Sensor
1,500 RP
385 meter range
0.0 Tons
Clan Extended Sensor
3,500 RP
490 meters
0.5 Tons
The five sensors each weight between nothing and 1 ton. Although your units
should always have sensors, only the scouts need higher power ones. Sensors will
not detect powered down mechs nor elementals. The former could be a serious
problem if you are not prepared for a surprise attack, but elementals are near
useless, and very rare on the battlefield as well. Clan sensors benefit from
having an additional 30-20 meters range over their similarly weighted Inner
Sphere counterparts.
Advanced sensors can only be mounted on select mech designs: the Raven, and all
other lightweight clan mechs. Thus, it's worthwhile to hold on to a couple of
Ravens (and of course light clan mechs) into the late game because they alone
can make use of your powerful sensor gear.
Beagle Probe
1,000 RP
Detects Powered Down Units (at 1/2 sensor range)
1.5 Tons
Clan Active Probe
1,200 RP
Detects Powered Down Units (at 1/2 sensor range)
1.0 Tons
The Beagle and Active Probes help your units detect powered down units. In the
later game when the enemy likes to power down units and surprise attack you,
these two sensor components help counter those tactics. The probes still wont
help you detect elementals though. Like the Advanced Sensors, they can only be
mounted on select mechs. If you do want to use one of these, then they work
best when used in conjuction with Advanced Sensors, since the probe's range is
half of the sensor its attached to. These components are useless after you've
played the game a couple of times, because the computer always has the same
powered down units in the same places every time; if you can remember where
those are, then you dont need the probes.
Guardian ECM Suite
3,000 RP
Halves Enemy Sensor Ranges on Contact
1.5 Tons
Clan ECM Suite
3,400 RP
Halves Enemy Sensor Ranges on Contact
1.0 Tons
ECM suites are very useful pieces of work. When your ECM equipped unit detects
an enemy that also has a sensor, they will cut the enemy's sensor range in
half. On the tactical map, enemy senor ranges are normally marked with red
circles. If you are successfully 'halving' and enemy's sensor, the red circle
will turn yellow. If a sensor range for one of your units is a blue circle
(instead of the usual white circle) , then your sensors are being 'halved', and
there is an enemy Raven nearby. Just like the Advanced Sensors, they can only
be mounted on select mech designs.
I consider the expansion weapons to be a little overpowered or confusing.
Ill get around to adding them on, but for now I would rather want to work on
the original campaign walkthrough.
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7. Major Logistic Guidelines
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There are several major guidelines that you'll want to adhere to when
selecting and equipping weapons. Although these are not set in stone exactly,
99% of the time you can expect these tips to work.
Major Guideline 1- Equip mechs to fight at particular ranges
Placing a bunch of Streak SRMs and a Gauss Rifle on the same mech means that
unless the mech is fighting an enemy within 50-75 meter range exclusively,
at any given point only one of his two weapon groups can fire.
Long Range guns can't fire at targets that are closer than 50 meters, and short
range weapons have a maximum range of 75 meters. So in this case this mech will
have a severe offensive limit, and in combat this usually means early death.
It would be much more useful to have a second mech equip the Streak SRMs and
some extra lasers, and the original the gauss rifle with some LRMs. Now the
mech team can tackle close and distant units alike, and both will be able to
use 100% of thier weapons within thier respective range groups.
In short: have mechs specialize in weapon ranges, not damage values or whatnot.
Major Guideline 2- Balance damage concentration with salvage ability
Take two sets of weapons: 3 heavy flamers, and 4 pulse lasers. Both weigh 24
tons and fire at close range, but the heavy flamers will fire 24 bursts per
minute of 5 points of damage each. The pulse lasers will fire 136 shots at 1
point of damage in the same time frame. This amounts to 120 damage per minute
for the heavy flamer group, and 136 for the pulse laser group.
Both are pretty impressive, but when a shot hits, the location it hits is more
or less randomized. Some shots will hit the torso, arms, and legs. Since each
location has its own armor and internal structure, lower damaging shots might
not do anything but damage the armor, while heavier hitting weapons will
penetrate it for sure.
SO lets say each group gets mounted on an identical mech with an identically
talented pilot, and both are taken to a combat situation where these mechs
begin shooting at seperate, but identical, medium weight mechs. Assuming they
stay are able to keep firing until the enemy medium weight mechs is destroyed,
what happens?
Most medium weight mechs have at around 15 points of armor guarding some body
locations, so if three or four heavy flamer shots hit the same area, the armor
would suffer 15-20 points of damage and would be gone. Meanwhile the pulse
lasers will need to hit the same area around 15-20 times to achieve the same
results. ALthough they do fire faster, this result usually takes significantly
longer to achieve.
In the end, the flamer mech (usually) will cause armor penetration and internal
structure damge at several spots, but with uneven damage levels at the other
locations. The pulse laser mech (usually) will only have a target with moderate
to heavy armor damage all over. Since the latter mech has not suffered a hit
to his internal structure, he will still have all of his weapons operational.
The former will have likely lost some, maybe several, and also likely fallen
over at least once (which usually happens when a mech suffers an internal
structure hit). Since these locations are most likely the torso, the internal
damage done might be done to an ammo bin or engine, both of which could eject
the pilot. Either way, this mech has lost a substancial amount of combat
effectiveness and will be destroyed soon. Thus, barring profound luck and
misfortunes, the mech being attacked by heavy flamers will be destroyed first.
This test can be extended to say that generally speaking, heavier damaging
weapons get the job (of defeating your enemies) done faster, which is
ultimately what military games like this one are about. Also, by dying faster,
this enemy mech has has less time to fire his own weapons, and has caused less
damage to your forces, meaning a lighter repair bill, less risk of weapon/pilot
loss, and frees up your forces to fight other threats.
But! Lower damaging weapons are generally better at salvaging your enemy's
mechs. The Hvy AutoCannon can level most mechs in one or two shots, but since
they are very likely to hit the torso, and that in turn is very likely to
cause a mech destroying ammo explosion, mechs that suffer Hvy AC fire are,
generally speaking, obliterated and not salvaged. That’s not to say that pulse
lasers won't cause ammo explosions or that the Hvy AC will never salvage
anything, though.
In the above scenario, the mech that is getting hit by the flamers will likely
get destroyed faster, but the mech getting hit by the pulse lasers will likely
be salvaged. The pulse lasers, while they are damaging everything equally, will
inevitably hit the head (and that in itself could potentially kill the pilot).
After going through the armor finally, the lasers will slowly damage the mech
just enough to kill it, but not destroy it in the same way the flamers will.
So just how important is salvage? Without it, you have to rely on Battillion to
resupply you, which means you will only have IS mechs, IS weapons, and you will
get them much later in the game and have far fewer a number of them than if you
salvaged them. At the start of the last group of missions (operation cutthroat)
battillion will no longer put anything new up for sale. Lastly, and probably the
worst of all, without salvage you will only get your hands on two clan mechs in
the entre game. Salvage will make or break your game plan.
What all of this mumbo jumbo is saying can be summarized as such: heavy damaging
weapons like ER PPCs, Gauss Rifles, Heavy Flamers, Heavy AutoCannons etc will
destroy your enemies fast, leaving nothing (literally) lefft behind. Lighter
damaging weapons like Light ACs, Pulse Lasers, SRMs, etc will slowly eat away
the enemy's health, which leads to higher salvage rates.
A significant part of your weapon choice will be made to balance between the
desire to salvage that valuable Clan mech and to simply kill it quickly so it
doesn’t destroy your pilots. When you master this artform down, you'll start
finding more salvaged mechs in your roster.
Major Guideline 3- Take several weapons with you, one of them an energy one
A major problem that plagues Hollanders and Hunchbacks launched in their
default configurations is that shortly into the mission, the major gun they
have has been exhausted of ammo (or destroyed). Since the designs carry
minimal backup weapons, the unit is now near useless. You should never send
out a mech with less than 4 weapons. Ever. Regardless what they are. You
risk the mech losing a single weapon and becoming a liability.
Even decent sized missions will drain a unit of ammo, so you will *always*
need to equip at least one energy weapon on each mech. The *ONLY* exception
to this rule is if you know a mission to be short or access to repair bays is
guaranteed. Otherwise your unit will also likely become useless after the last
round is fired off.
If you adhere to these guidelines, then your armies will be significantly
better prepared for the enemy and for unfortunate turn of events.
**********************
8. General Weapon Tips
**********************
What weapons are better or worse depends partly on style and partly on what
kind of situation you'll be in. Lots of walls and forests means missiles.
Wide open spaces means long range weapons like Large ER Lasers and AutoCannons.
Multiple small enemies? Pulse Lasers and other energy weapons. Access to repair
bays allows for heavy hitter Gauss Rifles and Hvy AutoCannons to come to the
fold.
Only play experience can tell you exactly what will occur in battle, but if you
have an idea of what you can expect to face, loading up appropriate weapons
might be the only way you can win (or in worse cases, survive).
After some playing time, you will be able to identify enemy units quickly and
know what they're carrying. The computer does not have specially modified
units, so if you see a Hunchback, it *always* has a Hvy AC. As you become more
accustomed to the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon, the vehicles and
mechs they come equipped on will be better analyzed as threats.
Recycle time does not guarantee when a weapon will fire again, only that is
*prepared* to fire again. Ammo loss, your target moving out of range, losing
line of sight of the enemy, (along with other events) all will prevent
your weapons from firing again.
Streak SRMs are perfect for pilots with lower gunnery skills because these
weapons do not rely on the gunnery skill to ensure it will hit. I call them the
'push button for damage' weapon.
Good weapons are made better when good pilots are in control of them. You
always want your rookie pilots to get better at shooting, but placing them
behind a mech armed with a hvy AC on their first mission is probably a bad
idea. Place the rookies instead behind weapons that dont have ammo problems and
leave the heavy hitting weapons to the pros.
Taking on extra enemy mechs (in order to salvage their weapons) can be good,
but even a C/ ER PPC is not worth losing a good pilot over. When I say 'losing'
I mean dying. A pilot ejecting might have to sit out a mission or two, but
death is permanent. Rare clan weapons are great for your forces, but veteran
and elite pilots are hands down the most valuable resource you own. Never
sacrifice them over mechs or weapons.
There is no 'ideal' or 'perfect' weapon layout. Having a strong balance of
close and long range firepower might work for general situations, but at least
a quarter of the game has environments and enemies that demand you adhere to a
specific set of weapons to succeed. Strictly sticking to a 'perfect'
configuration will only prevent you from fighting to your full potential. This
leads to extra damage being sustained, as well as possible losses and in some
situations, failure.
You can demand your pilots to target specific parts of a mech's body, but this
leads to nearly 90% missed shots (more if you demand head shots). Its not
worthwhile for your guys to target individual parts, so the saying "Just
because you can, doesn't mean you should" is in effect here.
Some weapons (both IS and Clan) are rarer than others, simply because the game
will only present you the opportunity to own a limited number of them. Weapons
like C/ Lg Pulse Laser, C/ ER PPC, C/ Hvy Ultra AC are true prizes and should
be placed only on well armored mechs piloted by good mechwarriors. It goes
without saying that even if battalion paid full price for the weapon, you
should never sell them.
The Bang for Buck ratings give you a good idea of what is more valuable to
salvage. SRMs have nearly 30 RPs per power, making them nearly useless as a
prize. The C/ ER PPC has the highest value of all: proving it is the highest
and most valuable of all salvage, aside from a mech chassis.
Selling weapons usually results in a lower than desired amount of RP return,
and usually a weapon is either too inexpensive to get a worthwhile sell price,
or it's a good weapon and you shouldn't be selling it. Thus, unless you have a
TON of a weapon (I’m talking in the 70s-80s range), you should probably refrain
from selling weapons at all. The only reason to sell when you get into the
upper 70s is because the game will only let you own 99 of any given component.
You should never sell some of the rarer Clan and Inner Sphere weapons. Never. I
can't stress this enough. You will not get them back.
Inner Sphere Light ACs (not the ultra autocannon version, just the regular
light AC) are an exception to the above rule. They are more or less
worthless, and should not be equipped on your mechs. You will probably get the
most out of them, sadly, by selling them ASAP.
Unless you keep an eye out for salvage containers and get lucky with salvaging
units, battillion will be your source for mechs and weapons. You should
generally plan on using exclusively Inner Sphere techology and mechs and
incorporate Clan tech if you manage to get it.
********************************
9. Legal Information and Credits
********************************
Im not the kind of person that cares what you do with what’s written here. I
got 80% of it from the game, another 10% from the manual, and the last 10%
from the wonderful powers of math. If you own the game, you will have access
to this information just like I do. Therefore, demanding that you credit my
work or 'omg emailz me if you s33 this faq not posted on Gamefaqs!!!11' is
kind of like saying that I have some sort of informational copyright on the
game statistics. Which is (a) dumb and (b) not mine to claim even if I could.
Although I will originally publish this on GameFaqs.com, this may be published
wherever you see fit. If you manage to actually sell this to someone for money
then more power to you. (they're probably too dumb to realize this all came
from the game anyways).
I *will* ask that you give credit to the people that created this game.
without them we would not have this guide or this kick @$$ game to play.
These people are:
Micropose
Fasa Interactive
Fasa Corporation
Anyone and everyone that has contributed to the MechWarrior and BattleTech
Universe. Thank YOU for making a great series of games for everyone to enjoy!
If you have additional information that would be beneficial to this guide,
drop me a line at pdiddymoss2003 [at] yahoo [dot] com. I will be happy to add
your contributions (and properly credit you for them).
