I'm just about to get in to A&A in a 3015 campaign start. I've been farming Clan mechs and have just about everything I want in my mech bay for latest and greatest -

But I'm finding that for Serious Business I'm still going back to my upgraded IS mechs. For me it's Basilisk, Dragon Slayer, Nightstar, Sleipnir and my refined 100x BLR-D.

What are your old school go to mechs that you pull out when a mission is NOT going to just be happy funtime stompy robbit blasting but game face go all in to win?

Just going purely off steam player counts (player peaks)

Ashes & Ascension: 4105
Chaos Reign: 3757
Shadow of Kerensky: 4603

I get that they had to simplify it heavily for console players (I think that was their reasoning behind it?) but I wouldn’t mind adding a bit of complexity to Mech outfitting. Really all one can do with a shiny “new” Battlemech after scraping whoever was in the cockpit out is change weapons (only if they’re the right type for its hardpoints) and figure out how much ammo and heatsinks you want. You want to put in a supercharger? Well too bad, you can’t because this mech doesn’t have a motive upgrade slot!

I wouldnt be opposed to having the ability to invest a lot of C-Bills into a mech to make it truly my own, a bit like how Hero versions of mechs are equipped with things that their other versions can’t have.

Why not just give console folk mod support? I mean, Ark Survival Ascended has it. It’s probably not that simple

For the 1st/3rd person versions anyway. I just finished the latest DLC, it's freaking incredible. The last several DLCs have been absolutely killer. Good job guys.

Hearing this line made me laugh my ass off knowing the lore that happens later on in the timeline

All just chilling on Hannover, it seems. What even are the chances lmao

I found the KGC-A yesterday, and was playing around with a quad LB-10X build on a Steiner stadium arena match. Drew some aggro, but no structure damage. Last enemy is an Urbie. Trying to get a few arena bonuses, so I picked him down to only his small laser. Which he then used to headshot me, killing me instantly. I like to imagine that AI pilot will never have to buy his own Timbiqui Dark again, because that's the best bar story ever. Probably got his own booth in Valhalla now.

One in a tutorial mission and two on the very last one, did PGI forgot to put more or something?

This guy did his duty. Signed on as a replacement during the clan invasion for $600k. First mission out, shit went sideways, as it does. Went down fighting though in an marauder 2, holding the tide while we retreated to the dropship and a payday.

I love the Pilot Record, just wish it had their names attached to it, and it'd be wicked cool if it played their callsign voice on click.

So can we have one, dad? Please…

Seriously though, someone should be fired for putting a 300m cbill dropship in the arena, dontcha think?

Unfortunately, I did not have enough salvage points. 😭

Thought about doing a short daily series of Mech builds and Pilot designs. I know my taste in mechs/pilots may not be for everyone (When it comes to firepower for me, LET'S UP THOSE NUMBERS), but I thought I'd open with a new and fairly common Mech variant: the SR-4.

And right off the bat, I've pissed off every speed freak in this channel. Yeah, I'd rather secure 15% more Laser Damage for 4x ER-SLs than score a 22.5% Speed buff. If I wanted to be fast, I'd drop in an Executioner. I wanted this to be as over the top as humanly possible.

We got 6x LBX-5s with 960 rounds of ammo, backed up by 4x ER-SLs, and a Pilot who is designed to tighten spread and boost damage.

Overall, Cantina and Traits combined, it's 35% more Ballistic Damage, 25% more Laser Damage, -15% LBX-5 Spread, 10% Faster Cooldown on LBX-5, 15% more Velocity on LBX-5, +10% Range on Lasers and -5% Laser Duration.

Chuck in the +10% Damage against Clanners, and this thing is essentially Tukkayid made manifest.

It's ice cold, despite the 10 guns and the fast firerate. Ammo was a bit of a concern, as it chews through it fast, though the Lasers have certainly made an appreciable dent in the consumption rate.

I don't have to waste ammo on Elementals, VTOLs, Tanks, Turrets, or Firemoths/Kitfoxes when the fast firing ER-SLs pack 32.5 pinpoint at 410+ meters, or 35.75 if you're a clanner. They also speed up TTK in general, reducing the amount of ammo I expend per kill; proliferating the SR-4's endurance and improving its lethality.

Forgoing more cooldown and focusing on damage for the LBX-5s effectively improves my damage to ammo ratio, stretching the ammo bins that much further. At around 74 damage per volley (81 if you're a filthy Clanner), the six LBX-5s are terrifying in and of themselves. Combined with the ER-SLs, an Alpha Strike deals 106 Damage; 116 on Clanners. Given the RoF and -15% spread, that's nothing short of terrifying.

Yeah, it's slow. Yeah, it's a big target without any additional defenses. It'll also take a whole Star of Clan Assaults off the map as casually you'd step on an anthill, and still be ice cold after putting them all in the dirt.

That's why I designed the Pilot and Mech in this way.

And for the record, yes, they all come out of the gun barrel.

He stares at you whenever you want to eject, repair or modify your mechs

(kidding aside just using a studio deck if it can be used for Mercs with a test layout)

With the latest DLC ending, it seems there’s a lot of discussion on what base building/company management mechanics would look like in the game.

Obviously I don’t expect it’s realistic that PGI would begin having us deploy larger forces, as company-size teams would quickly necessitate a completely different mission design ethos. Still, I wish we had a way to really experience the increased size of Mason’s forces without fundamentally changing the game.

What if we were able to deploy mechs and pilots on missions across the Inner Sphere that we weren’t present for?

Games with big base-building elements like Metal Gear Solid V included a passive system that allowed you to gamble your soldiers and equipment on their own independent missions, earning you more resources. This really added to the feel of developing a mercenary company, provided a sink for different resources, and justified the massive amount of troops on your base despite the game being a one-man stealth adventure.

Wouldn’t that be perfect for MW5 Mercs? Imagine sending your academy trained pilots to complete contracts with your extra storehouse of mechs, earning you rare salvage based on how well equipped your team is for the job. All the while, nothing about the core gameplay loop needs revamped, as the system would basically function offscreen like academies do.

It would really add a sense of purpose to expanding as much as one does throughout a campaign, and make me care about all of my extra pilots way more.

I know it’s a random pie-in-the-sky idea, but it doesn’t seem so insane. I have to wonder if PGI has thought about implementing anything like this.

I’ve been slow rolling my current play-through for ashes and ascension due to the bugs that came out with the DLC (mainly the opposing mercenary combines not being visible on the map and some minor stability issues). When can we expect a patch to address these issues? I remember chaos reign had some issues (it was super funny having clan mechs available to buy in 3015) but I don’t remember how long it took for a post DLC patch to roll out.

And I'm enjoying every second of it. Got myself the Prime variant, and the only major change was dropping the SRMs out of it for more armor and cooling. Those twin gauss rifles, as well as 4HMLs and 2 MPLs are just a treat.

And of course we had to do her up pretty in the Clan Meth Weasel colors. Can't go dancing without a paint job

I've been getting a lot of good use out of ATMs since they got introduced to the game; real efficient killers.

A) Does the Cluster Hitter trait buff ATMs?
B) Does NAIS Graduate buff ATMs?

...and going with the base theme of the post: what Traits impact ATMs as of A&A?

Sooooo... After finishing the new DLC campaign (what a beautiful ending, btw, I'd love for that to be the actual retirement of Mason), we're now in the year 3060. That begs the question, HOW old is Mason now, exactly? And, more importantly, does anyone know his facial routine, cause it sure as hell must be awesome? 🤣 Or, to ask more seriously, do we know his exact age, and is there any canon explanation why he still looks no older than maybe in his early 40s by the end of the campaign?

This seems like a longshot, but are there any mods to give more data on what took out a lancemate's mech? I was just doing the second kestrel lancers mission (after the moon) when one of my lancemates went from basically 100% to missing their CT in an instant. As in I paused and checked the video and it was really 'instant'. My back was to them so I didn't get to see it.
I half wonder if it was a bug, too, because they played their eject message twice back to back.

Sorry for the poor audio mixing and the clipping mic, I just wanted to record a quick clip before going to bed so this is all you get for now.

Anyway, yes, called shots. That is all.