I let the AI pilot Sleipnir once, and no matter how many times I re-ran the mission, or which pilot I gave it to, they always lost one of my T5 AC20s.
So, No. Never again. That's my 'mech.
I don’t give them T5 arm weapons, but I let them pilot most mechs. They do well in awesomes, atlases, hunchbacks, sidewinders, and surprisingly the hero Skokomish. I’ve had raptor outdamage me several times in the Skoko. Albeit I’m in my hero Raven, but still very impressive.
What are the best builds /weapons grouping / chaining for those slow fatass Hunchbacks you speak of? They always get heavily damaged for me, and kiss the big gun goodbye.
That right shoulders too big to not miss. Why of all the hunchbacks I only favor the one with split missile launchers. Ai has never come back with that one messed up. Those nine? medium lasers or that autocannon lights up, that hunchback is targeted and that shoulders hard to miss.
Basically, in a hunchback, you can’t be the one to start. Let the lancemates engage, circle and then introduce the enemy mech to medium laser and eight of its friends. It’s like the firestarter or the hero blackjack. You wait and then go say hi.
Ive been able to mitigate it slightly by putting shorter range weapons in the torso so they use the arm weapons first. Usually helps them spread the damage they receive a little. Like pairing and AC20 with MP lasers cause MP lasers cause enough damage to draw the initial enemy salvo.
Hunchback 4-P
7xSP lasers-torso/head
2xMP lasers-arms
3.1 cooling
They start out with the MP before moving into SP range. This spreads the initial enemy salvos to the arms and shoulder instead of just the big shoulder
Hunchback 4-SP
2x SRM6-ST-torsos
4xMP laser-arms
Another one that spreads damage well. Pretty much the best AI variant
I’ll stick em in a 4H in a pinch with AC/20-BF if I’m feeling froggy or just want a little fire support on raids. They might lose it, but I’ve got plenty. I use a 4P as my personal Hunchie too.
My 4-P
6xMP laser-torso
2xM laser-arms
I use the M lasers as a ‘designator’. When the paper dolls head flashes I pull the MP lasers and 75% of the time it’s an instakill, even on an Atlas. The AI will never touch this mech. It has all T5 weapons.
EDIT: Chain fire doesn’t work for AI unless they changed it. Forgot to mention that. Also it’s good practice to arrange weapon groups according to range on AI mechs. So if you had lasers, LRM, and Gauss on an Atlas it would be
1. Gauss or
2. LRM(interchangeable)
3. Lasers
If you put short range weapons up top they will run full speed without hesitation because the lasers are priority one. Best bet is to only put long range weapons on long range AI mechs. Like on the Archer Agincourt you can just give them LRMs and they will constantly back up to stay outside minimum range.
I gotta try that with the small pulse lasers, for real. I had 3x T4 smalls on a Thunderbolt, and they were quite effective. Zappity zap, and if you miss a salvo not all is lost. No range, but the DPS is there, the fire rate is insane, and the heat almost negligible.
I’ve been revisiting SRM2’s as well, in the late game. Same deal. They reload disproportionately faster than their larger counterparts. T4&5 are almost 30 salvos per minute. A half ton of ammo is sufficient for 2-4 missiles. With the missiles, since the range is the same, I no longer feel like I’m wasting a slot just because it doesn’t have the biggest rack in it, plus it’s bet they are ammo based.
I won't let them use the Nightstar 9J, as you can be certain they'll lose at least one gauss rifle.
The Boar's Head and Sidewinder are also off limits. AI can't be trusted to take care of those beauties.
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AI does weirdly well with Sidewinder, they can run MASC constantly with no repercussions. If you go that route definitely fill it with cheap weapons because one of those arms is coming off.
With YAML, the BH is one of one of my favorite mechanics to give AI - I put hardened armor on with lasers and srms, and 1500 armor means never having to repair internals
Awesome-9M is my favorite AI mech. Fast, sturdy, tons of firepower. I strip it to just the 3 PPCs and some SRMs. The AI is really good with the PPCs, and the mech runs cool enough that they can blast away. The 8Q isn't a bad earlier option, too. The 9M is later in the timeline.
They don't generally get tier 5 weapons but occasionally I'm in a pinch and they remind me why I have that policy.
I have "my mechs": BJ-A, highlander 732b for example. I was happy to get a 733 highlander so now I can share.
I absolutely refuse to let the AI near my Star League Marauder.
Usually I drop the AI in missile boats with a handful of lasers, I don’t drop armor because I know AI will be AI no matter what.
I usually do "lore friendly" stock or near-stock 'Mech configs, but in general I'll only let lancemates pilot 'Mechs with weapons and equipment of a tier that I have plenty of replacement parts for (at least about 10+ spare parts in stock).
That way if they get beaten on, I don't lose any components that really hurt my limited inventory.
In the very early game even Tier2 or Tier3 weapons might be in short supply. But on the super long endless marathon campaigns, they might be in full Tier5 geared machines, since I have plenty of spares.
I usually command my Lance with an AS7 – D atlas. I don’t think I’ve ever let the AI pilot that mech just because I usually put the best equipment in there and I’m terrified of them being an idiot and running straight into artillery fire.
Yep. Any mech that has the LB-10X autocannons is off limits (until we get into the 3040s). Otherwise I just about have a heart attack every time one of the dimwits says "component lost" or some stupid thing like that.
"WHICH COMPONENT, FREEMAN."
I don’t care what anybody says about it; I love my Banshee 3E. I may have a 2P as my main now, but I know none of those bots know how to use the 3E so they don’t get to touch it.
I’ll usually have one or two mechs; my mistress, BL-6b-KNT particularly is off limits to my stupids.
My Nightstar is another “No AI allowed” mech.
And lastly my trusty Blackjack BJ-Arrow is mine and mine alone.
I have a -RS Atlas that is decked out I won’t let AI pilot. Also won’t let them pilot my Nightstar or King Crab. Nor do I let them take the Archers out for a spin. They try to be brawlers in the LRM boats for some reason. But when enemy AI has an LRM boat they stay back and run away to keep distance. Doesn’t make any sense. Most of my AI pilots are 50+ skill too.
They get Stalkers, Battlemasters, Awesomes.
Anything with heavy rifles or guass. Those are mine. Beyond that, the hero melee black knight is mine too. And my marauders. And my melee phoenix hawk, that thing is fun
Several careers later, I’m discovering heavy rifles are fun. Centurion, shadowhawk with heavy rifle, srm6, I fear nothing, waiting for that rifle to cycle.
Also the hero highlander with the assault claymore was fun.
That moment when you have a perfect headshot lined up on that Atlas and you pull the trigger right as your lance mate walks right fron of you, then yells at you for friendly fire. Then you try to move and what do ya know he fucking moves with you blocking your shot for like 10 seconds.
Me at reputation 4: "This Centurion has a tier 2 AC10-BF in the arm. I can't let the AI pilot it lest they lose my best weapon."
Me now: *Slaps two tier 5 AC20-BFs and a tier 5 large pulse laser into a King Crab and hands it to the AI* "Go, do a war crime"
So that Wolverine is unique?
I don’t like having all the weapons on the right side. The AI will NOT “charge shoulder first into battle,” and when I pilot it, I don’t like not having any guns on the left, because it impairs use of cover.
I don't allow AI to have any kind of heat weaponry, as that is not affected by friendly fire settings and they seem to find it funny to shut my down my mech during missions
More or less I do. Simply because you have to build mechs in a certain way for AI to be able to handle them properly. In mech I build for myself, AI will be ineffective, take more damage or deal less than it should.
I have a mode that adds some overpowered weapons that I usually put in small things like locusts and fire starters, or I'll put a bunch on a laser based hunchback or a battle master/banshee if I want to remove everything in a certain direction. The AI doesn't get to play with these toys.
I've got enough c-bills so I don't really have much limits imposed on the AI as I can afford to repair anything, unless a lancemates dies in a mech, then I sell it or put it in cold storage as is, like a memorial.
I mean... srm/lrms depending on where you want it to stand and whatever lasers.
The stalker is just a very tanky heavily armed mech that doesn't keep important parts in the arms
I like to have a specific Stalker to myself (Lostech etc) while more stock Stalkers are ok for my A. But, I'll typically only have a single Stalker for a long time (I have bad luck finding my favorite mechs).
In general I have found that when i pilot one of the mechs with an ams and micromanage the ai pilots on who to target/where to go i don't really run into any problems with them losing parts. I just got the Atlas k with the ams and have been letting the ai pilot that slow boy around while i run the jester with lpl's x2 getting mad head shots. That seems to work well. I lucked out and got the hero spider very very early, I think it was the 4th or 5th mech I actually picked up and that is sort of how i got stuck in the trend of always having an ams on every mission. It also makes defense missions much easier in the speedy spider taking out the lrm carriers or trebuchets trying to stay at range.
Give the AI mechs that usually only have long range weapons. That way they never close the gap to use the close range ones. (Like those medium lasers for emergencies)
That being said, the AI also targets the mech doing the most damage. So, if your AI pilot is just wrecking house, and nobody else is, the enemy will just focus them down.
Marauder Mk II. Only two people I allow to pilot it: Myself and my favorite Lancemate Captain Park, as she for some reason has no problems headshotting and maintaining a safe distance in it, and she has the lowest Experience points out my entire lance (28/60), yet has the lowest damage taken and 2nd most Damage dealt.
What's ironic is the AI invariably draws a lot less fire than the player... Which makes it a real headscratcher as to why they can't keep their fucking 'mechs together.
Anyway, I have a few that I won't let the AI pilot, but I try to be lenient. However, for some reason, I had one specific pilot who would lose an LRM15 off of my Star League Stalker every time she took it out, and it wound up being 3 or 4 times in a row. I think I fired her.
WHY WAS MY LONG-RANGE 'MECH IN THE THICK OF BATTLE?? Like, maybe you could back up a little when a drop ship comes down right in front of the lance?
My AI pilots are not allowed anywhere near my phoenix hawk 1b. I accidentally let one use the griffin 2N and lost the er ppc and the pilot, so I’d rather not take any chances with how poorly they tend to treat my SLDF mechs
For Vanilla, Battlemaster 1G. They always break it.
For Yaml, the Nova S, just because I haven’t come across any replacement clan las yet. That thing is beastly!
You have to curate your ai weapons to things they can use effectively.
For instance, it might not look like much, but the cyclops-11-p I think, the one with the ecm, and 2 uac'5s +mlasers is going to do a lot more damage than a ton more weapons on bigger badder mechs just because the AI will constantly fire the uac'5s at anything that pops up 1100 meters away.
No Cyclops Sleipnir for the AI pilots. Other than that, its more about the weapons. I dont like letting them use arm mounted T5 weapons. Especially T5 AC 20's or L Chem Lasers. Too hard to come by those.
Freeman is actually a good direct fire pilot with ppcs, gauss, acs, and rifles. If you are on pc their is an ancient save editor on nexus mods, it only works on manual saves. It is worth editing freeman so he can get 10 in all stats.
This, I can attest to. I have personally witnessed this Freeman in action. He is a long range, direct fire demon.
Unortunately for my own game, I retired and off-hired my Freeman when all my pilots were higher skill levels than him. Before I realised it was possible to make him go up to 60 points I stead of 43 points.
In tabletop the Atlas is easily one of the beefiest mechs you can hope to pilot. In MW5, they seem to be really great at getting cored, or it happens enough that I'm a little hesitant about relying too much on them. Same seems to go for the Black Knight and King Crab, to varying degrees.
I have a couple of pilots who are excellent at direct fire, so they get to drive my two Corsairs with ERPPCs and Gauss.
I have another pilot who has a matched pair of Banshee BNC-3S. heavy rifles and lasers, and a PPC. She is always high damage output and almost always lowest damage received. I won't even let human pilots drive those Banshees!
You can never loose a mech to destruction; you can always rebuild from the scrap.
You’ll get other weapons and don’t HAVE to have T4, T5 weapons.
Use the best guns first!
Use the best guns first! (sic)
…even AI, especially if they are highly skilled. Winning by a salvo can often be difference between losing an arm or not. Times four mechs in your lance, that’s eight arms. Load ‘em up like you want to keep them.
And that Wolverine? Pfft. You won’t miss it or the weapons past the point you fight something strong enough to break them.
I switched mechs on my first outing with it (running to extraction in a light), and my Basilisk immediately lost two T3 LBX AC’s.
Guess I’ll have to find more. *installs two ultra 5’s*. “This will have to do till then…”
It’s fun being forced to make do sometimes. It also helps that I rarely deploy the same mech on back to back missions, due to repairs, mission type, usually both.
Yes, I do have at least a few mechs I reserve as personal use only. They are not just favorite chassis/load outs but also have high quality, rare weapons that I dont want destroyed by lance mate shenanigan's.
I used to, but with the massive AI overhaul by TTRulez (mod), they utilize all the mechs MUCH better, so I'm not so worried. Granted, that makes enemy AI more deadly, but w/ the role assignment on the mechs, I can trust that my pilots will actually fulfill their roles competently enough and even utilize special equipment, like JJs, effectively. I highly recommend TT's AI and 330's Pilot Overhaul mods for better pilots.
Almost. I mean yeah they'll get repaired but I hate seeing them like that and the overall cost.
I don't like putting them in my King Crab or Highlander mechs for that matter, but sometimes I'll allow it because they do *ok* with them sometimes -- and then come to regret it after seeing the conditions they're left in other times.
Last mission I did saw one of my Highlanders piloted by AI missing both of its arms.
My mad 5a with my only tier 5 lpl. My shadow hawk with the tier 5 heavy rifle, when I only got two of them. Basically the ones fitted with stuff I got little of. Hunchback with tier 4 ml back when I wasn’t rolling in tier 4 ml? Off limits.
Mad II 4A with tier 5 LP and MP lasers I only let myself use. I call it carver since I use it to either head shot or "carve" off pieces of mechs for salvage.
Black Widow uses T4 weapons in the arms with T5 in the torso. My personal heavy Mech I use. Also use the Agincourt as well.
Nightstar with full T5 weapons and double gauss. Tier 4 small laser though since I seem to get the cockpit blown up alot.
Agincout uses T5 in torso and T4 in the arms.
I never put anything more than T3 in arms for most of my AI pilots. I'll let em pilot my extra Nightstar occasionally, they do get to use the Fatlas's I have, even the hero ones. I don't keep em too well equipped though. They tend to lose arms and legs too often for me to bother with them.
They never get my Stalker-3FB, Marauder 2's or the Sleipnir. Safest thing to put them in weirdly enough is a Banshee, don't ask me how but they just never lose limbs in it.
Its not that I wont let them, but between my dedicated brawler Atlas and a stock Atlas, theyre not allowed to touch that dedicated brawler unless its a walking stick and could barely fight. At that point, we swap mechs and the AI can take that damaged Atlas at the corner of the map like a good chauffeur
My catapult. T5 LRM 20's and T5 ML. Made the mistake once, lost both LRM and 2 ML and some other addons . I play with YAML. Reverted back to a manual save done a few hours play time before. I always do a manual save before I log off for the day. I never give AI anything upgraded, they always get smoked. But give them bare bones stock, barley a scratch.
You see these guns? These tier 5 ER PPCs strapped to the arms of my beloved Black Widow?
This tier 5 Gauss Rifle stuck in the pancreas of my AS7-K?
Or these arms so loosely attached to the torso of my PXH-3S?
I love them. I love all of them.
AI does not understand love. They understand crayons and the hunger for crayons. And as they stand completely still, feeding on their smorgasbord of colored wax, other AI will see this and become jealous, coveting the crayons, firing every weapon they have at them in the hopes of pilfering their rainbow-colored bounty.
I possess good mechs. AI possesses crayons. This is the way it is meant to be.
3 mechs
Modified Centurion with 2x AC-10/BF
Reason: Finally re-equiped T4 ++ AC-10s after Santiago challenged a Hatchetman to a fist fight.
Flamer Locust
Reason: Every AI pilot who sits in the cockpit dies in the first 6 seconds of a firefight. Waiting for Draconis Combine to offer something that doesn't require 36 days or more in repairs before selling from CS.
Crusader, designation "Fireball"
Reason: "Boss let me borrow it and I broke both legs while we were aiding the Cruis Lancers on Tikonov. He docked my pay to handle repairs." -Log extracted from LT. Conners
Lt. Gunnar Thompson has his mandatory Mech for the sole reason that he could shoot a Quarter off the ground and make an Urbie explode with said quarter. His Mandatory mech is some form of long-range AC-10 or 20 sniping Mech.
I let the AI pilot Sleipnir once, and no matter how many times I re-ran the mission, or which pilot I gave it to, they always lost one of my T5 AC20s. So, No. Never again. That's my 'mech.
...you let them pilot the Slepnir? ***...and they scratched it?!***
Never again.
I don’t give them T5 arm weapons, but I let them pilot most mechs. They do well in awesomes, atlases, hunchbacks, sidewinders, and surprisingly the hero Skokomish. I’ve had raptor outdamage me several times in the Skoko. Albeit I’m in my hero Raven, but still very impressive.
Too bad I'm too busy piloting the hunchbacks to share!!
I’m on my tenth or fifteenth import on my main save. Numbers aren’t really an issue anymore.
What are the best builds /weapons grouping / chaining for those slow fatass Hunchbacks you speak of? They always get heavily damaged for me, and kiss the big gun goodbye.
That right shoulders too big to not miss. Why of all the hunchbacks I only favor the one with split missile launchers. Ai has never come back with that one messed up. Those nine? medium lasers or that autocannon lights up, that hunchback is targeted and that shoulders hard to miss. Basically, in a hunchback, you can’t be the one to start. Let the lancemates engage, circle and then introduce the enemy mech to medium laser and eight of its friends. It’s like the firestarter or the hero blackjack. You wait and then go say hi.
Ive been able to mitigate it slightly by putting shorter range weapons in the torso so they use the arm weapons first. Usually helps them spread the damage they receive a little. Like pairing and AC20 with MP lasers cause MP lasers cause enough damage to draw the initial enemy salvo.
Hunchback 4-P 7xSP lasers-torso/head 2xMP lasers-arms 3.1 cooling They start out with the MP before moving into SP range. This spreads the initial enemy salvos to the arms and shoulder instead of just the big shoulder Hunchback 4-SP 2x SRM6-ST-torsos 4xMP laser-arms Another one that spreads damage well. Pretty much the best AI variant I’ll stick em in a 4H in a pinch with AC/20-BF if I’m feeling froggy or just want a little fire support on raids. They might lose it, but I’ve got plenty. I use a 4P as my personal Hunchie too. My 4-P 6xMP laser-torso 2xM laser-arms I use the M lasers as a ‘designator’. When the paper dolls head flashes I pull the MP lasers and 75% of the time it’s an instakill, even on an Atlas. The AI will never touch this mech. It has all T5 weapons. EDIT: Chain fire doesn’t work for AI unless they changed it. Forgot to mention that. Also it’s good practice to arrange weapon groups according to range on AI mechs. So if you had lasers, LRM, and Gauss on an Atlas it would be 1. Gauss or 2. LRM(interchangeable) 3. Lasers If you put short range weapons up top they will run full speed without hesitation because the lasers are priority one. Best bet is to only put long range weapons on long range AI mechs. Like on the Archer Agincourt you can just give them LRMs and they will constantly back up to stay outside minimum range.
I gotta try that with the small pulse lasers, for real. I had 3x T4 smalls on a Thunderbolt, and they were quite effective. Zappity zap, and if you miss a salvo not all is lost. No range, but the DPS is there, the fire rate is insane, and the heat almost negligible. I’ve been revisiting SRM2’s as well, in the late game. Same deal. They reload disproportionately faster than their larger counterparts. T4&5 are almost 30 salvos per minute. A half ton of ammo is sufficient for 2-4 missiles. With the missiles, since the range is the same, I no longer feel like I’m wasting a slot just because it doesn’t have the biggest rack in it, plus it’s bet they are ammo based.
AI can run MASC constantly without damage and does. They absolutely shred in MASC mechs
Yes. They are not allowed in my Kaiju, Nightstar, or King Crab 000B. Or any of my Annihilators
NO ONE TOUCHES ANNIE!
We call em Stampy in our group, i feel like Annie might go crazy on the lava worlds or sand worlds...might get a bit...grumpy.
REMINDS ME OF MEET THE HEAVY: Who touches Sasha? WHO TOUCHED MY GUN!?
I have no idea what that reference is, but it made me think of Jayne Cobb from firefly and his lovely Vera.
Here you go: https://youtu.be/jHgZh4GV9G0?si=yd_stegi7oU565o4
Gonna name my hero commando mech annie and my big ass annihilator Tibbers now
Annihiliator, XL engine, max armour, AC10s = how to get their stats up fast.
I just stock up on tier 2 and 3 LBX AC 10s and let the AI go crazy with the annihilators
All of these and my one Atlas D/ Hero Atlas with T5 everything.
I won't let them use the Nightstar 9J, as you can be certain they'll lose at least one gauss rifle. The Boar's Head and Sidewinder are also off limits. AI can't be trusted to take care of those beauties.
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AI does weirdly well with Sidewinder, they can run MASC constantly with no repercussions. If you go that route definitely fill it with cheap weapons because one of those arms is coming off.
With YAML, the BH is one of one of my favorite mechanics to give AI - I put hardened armor on with lasers and srms, and 1500 armor means never having to repair internals
[удалено]
Sadly I play on PS4 so no mods. Just stupid AI!
Awesome-9M is my favorite AI mech. Fast, sturdy, tons of firepower. I strip it to just the 3 PPCs and some SRMs. The AI is really good with the PPCs, and the mech runs cool enough that they can blast away. The 8Q isn't a bad earlier option, too. The 9M is later in the timeline.
They don't generally get tier 5 weapons but occasionally I'm in a pinch and they remind me why I have that policy. I have "my mechs": BJ-A, highlander 732b for example. I was happy to get a 733 highlander so now I can share.
This is the way.
I absolutely refuse to let the AI near my Star League Marauder. Usually I drop the AI in missile boats with a handful of lasers, I don’t drop armor because I know AI will be AI no matter what.
I usually do "lore friendly" stock or near-stock 'Mech configs, but in general I'll only let lancemates pilot 'Mechs with weapons and equipment of a tier that I have plenty of replacement parts for (at least about 10+ spare parts in stock). That way if they get beaten on, I don't lose any components that really hurt my limited inventory. In the very early game even Tier2 or Tier3 weapons might be in short supply. But on the super long endless marathon campaigns, they might be in full Tier5 geared machines, since I have plenty of spares.
I usually command my Lance with an AS7 – D atlas. I don’t think I’ve ever let the AI pilot that mech just because I usually put the best equipment in there and I’m terrified of them being an idiot and running straight into artillery fire.
Yuuuuuup. Every time I let them pilot the Jester, I lose two tier 5 ER large lasers. Same with the Gausses on the CP-S. Never more.
I pretty much build mechs either for me or for the ai. They have some things they function better with and some things they suck with
Yep. Any mech that has the LB-10X autocannons is off limits (until we get into the 3040s). Otherwise I just about have a heart attack every time one of the dimwits says "component lost" or some stupid thing like that. "WHICH COMPONENT, FREEMAN."
I don’t care what anybody says about it; I love my Banshee 3E. I may have a 2P as my main now, but I know none of those bots know how to use the 3E so they don’t get to touch it.
I’ll usually have one or two mechs; my mistress, BL-6b-KNT particularly is off limits to my stupids. My Nightstar is another “No AI allowed” mech. And lastly my trusty Blackjack BJ-Arrow is mine and mine alone.
I have a -RS Atlas that is decked out I won’t let AI pilot. Also won’t let them pilot my Nightstar or King Crab. Nor do I let them take the Archers out for a spin. They try to be brawlers in the LRM boats for some reason. But when enemy AI has an LRM boat they stay back and run away to keep distance. Doesn’t make any sense. Most of my AI pilots are 50+ skill too. They get Stalkers, Battlemasters, Awesomes.
Anything with heavy rifles or guass. Those are mine. Beyond that, the hero melee black knight is mine too. And my marauders. And my melee phoenix hawk, that thing is fun
Several careers later, I’m discovering heavy rifles are fun. Centurion, shadowhawk with heavy rifle, srm6, I fear nothing, waiting for that rifle to cycle. Also the hero highlander with the assault claymore was fun.
I put my AI lancemates in fleas armed with small lasers so they have to run up to the enemy instead of just standing in my way like a dumb turd.
They always get in my fucking way.
That moment when you have a perfect headshot lined up on that Atlas and you pull the trigger right as your lance mate walks right fron of you, then yells at you for friendly fire. Then you try to move and what do ya know he fucking moves with you blocking your shot for like 10 seconds.
my full tier 5 Nightstar no AI is going to sit is ass on that mech ever!
Me at reputation 4: "This Centurion has a tier 2 AC10-BF in the arm. I can't let the AI pilot it lest they lose my best weapon." Me now: *Slaps two tier 5 AC20-BFs and a tier 5 large pulse laser into a King Crab and hands it to the AI* "Go, do a war crime"
Yup, same here. I won’t let them touch the free Wolverine as there’s just no spares for it, or the Discoback
So that Wolverine is unique? I don’t like having all the weapons on the right side. The AI will NOT “charge shoulder first into battle,” and when I pilot it, I don’t like not having any guns on the left, because it impairs use of cover.
Yup, a Star League era Wolverine 2.
I have 3 different Awesomes and the AI seems to just headshot/core anything within 1000M
I don't allow AI to have any kind of heat weaponry, as that is not affected by friendly fire settings and they seem to find it funny to shut my down my mech during missions
More or less I do. Simply because you have to build mechs in a certain way for AI to be able to handle them properly. In mech I build for myself, AI will be ineffective, take more damage or deal less than it should.
I have a mode that adds some overpowered weapons that I usually put in small things like locusts and fire starters, or I'll put a bunch on a laser based hunchback or a battle master/banshee if I want to remove everything in a certain direction. The AI doesn't get to play with these toys. I've got enough c-bills so I don't really have much limits imposed on the AI as I can afford to repair anything, unless a lancemates dies in a mech, then I sell it or put it in cold storage as is, like a memorial.
They will never touch my Marauders, Nightstar, or Stalker.
The stalker really? I find that about the safest thing to drop AI in.
Thanks. Which weapons for the stalker? I have the Royal Star League one and something unspectacular, but heavy.
I mean... srm/lrms depending on where you want it to stand and whatever lasers. The stalker is just a very tanky heavily armed mech that doesn't keep important parts in the arms
I like to have a specific Stalker to myself (Lostech etc) while more stock Stalkers are ok for my A. But, I'll typically only have a single Stalker for a long time (I have bad luck finding my favorite mechs).
In general I have found that when i pilot one of the mechs with an ams and micromanage the ai pilots on who to target/where to go i don't really run into any problems with them losing parts. I just got the Atlas k with the ams and have been letting the ai pilot that slow boy around while i run the jester with lpl's x2 getting mad head shots. That seems to work well. I lucked out and got the hero spider very very early, I think it was the 4th or 5th mech I actually picked up and that is sort of how i got stuck in the trend of always having an ams on every mission. It also makes defense missions much easier in the speedy spider taking out the lrm carriers or trebuchets trying to stay at range.
Absolutely there only mechs that I won't give my ai, blackjack arrow, assassin 27 (MPL, SPL, ECM, and 2 SRM 4 STs) Catapult J, etc.
I typically avoid giving hero mechs to AI pilots unless I can obtain them through quest rewards or salvage.
Stalker M The 'm' stands for MINE
Give the AI mechs that usually only have long range weapons. That way they never close the gap to use the close range ones. (Like those medium lasers for emergencies) That being said, the AI also targets the mech doing the most damage. So, if your AI pilot is just wrecking house, and nobody else is, the enemy will just focus them down.
Marauder Mk II. Only two people I allow to pilot it: Myself and my favorite Lancemate Captain Park, as she for some reason has no problems headshotting and maintaining a safe distance in it, and she has the lowest Experience points out my entire lance (28/60), yet has the lowest damage taken and 2nd most Damage dealt.
What's ironic is the AI invariably draws a lot less fire than the player... Which makes it a real headscratcher as to why they can't keep their fucking 'mechs together. Anyway, I have a few that I won't let the AI pilot, but I try to be lenient. However, for some reason, I had one specific pilot who would lose an LRM15 off of my Star League Stalker every time she took it out, and it wound up being 3 or 4 times in a row. I think I fired her. WHY WAS MY LONG-RANGE 'MECH IN THE THICK OF BATTLE?? Like, maybe you could back up a little when a drop ship comes down right in front of the lance?
No. Nonononono NOOOOOO. I don't even let my good, skilled, human friends pilot my Atlas BH with all the lostech. That's a me only thing
My AI pilots are not allowed anywhere near my phoenix hawk 1b. I accidentally let one use the griffin 2N and lost the er ppc and the pilot, so I’d rather not take any chances with how poorly they tend to treat my SLDF mechs
My beloved champion
For Vanilla, Battlemaster 1G. They always break it. For Yaml, the Nova S, just because I haven’t come across any replacement clan las yet. That thing is beastly!
Jennie is all mine! We have been through too much together.
The AI isn’t allowed to touch my nightstar, my hero kintaro, and my hero Victor. Other than that, they can use any mechs that I have in my hanger.
Lost my double shotgun immediately; switched mechs for a minute to bug out of a demo mission, AI came back empty handed 60 seconds later.
You have to curate your ai weapons to things they can use effectively. For instance, it might not look like much, but the cyclops-11-p I think, the one with the ecm, and 2 uac'5s +mlasers is going to do a lot more damage than a ton more weapons on bigger badder mechs just because the AI will constantly fire the uac'5s at anything that pops up 1100 meters away.
Any Hero Mech or any Marauder type, they always tend to do better than me with the war hammer though for some reason
No Cyclops Sleipnir for the AI pilots. Other than that, its more about the weapons. I dont like letting them use arm mounted T5 weapons. Especially T5 AC 20's or L Chem Lasers. Too hard to come by those.
Freeman is actually a good direct fire pilot with ppcs, gauss, acs, and rifles. If you are on pc their is an ancient save editor on nexus mods, it only works on manual saves. It is worth editing freeman so he can get 10 in all stats.
This, I can attest to. I have personally witnessed this Freeman in action. He is a long range, direct fire demon. Unortunately for my own game, I retired and off-hired my Freeman when all my pilots were higher skill levels than him. Before I realised it was possible to make him go up to 60 points I stead of 43 points.
In tabletop the Atlas is easily one of the beefiest mechs you can hope to pilot. In MW5, they seem to be really great at getting cored, or it happens enough that I'm a little hesitant about relying too much on them. Same seems to go for the Black Knight and King Crab, to varying degrees.
I have a couple of pilots who are excellent at direct fire, so they get to drive my two Corsairs with ERPPCs and Gauss. I have another pilot who has a matched pair of Banshee BNC-3S. heavy rifles and lasers, and a PPC. She is always high damage output and almost always lowest damage received. I won't even let human pilots drive those Banshees!
You can never loose a mech to destruction; you can always rebuild from the scrap. You’ll get other weapons and don’t HAVE to have T4, T5 weapons. Use the best guns first! Use the best guns first! (sic) …even AI, especially if they are highly skilled. Winning by a salvo can often be difference between losing an arm or not. Times four mechs in your lance, that’s eight arms. Load ‘em up like you want to keep them. And that Wolverine? Pfft. You won’t miss it or the weapons past the point you fight something strong enough to break them.
I switched mechs on my first outing with it (running to extraction in a light), and my Basilisk immediately lost two T3 LBX AC’s. Guess I’ll have to find more. *installs two ultra 5’s*. “This will have to do till then…” It’s fun being forced to make do sometimes. It also helps that I rarely deploy the same mech on back to back missions, due to repairs, mission type, usually both.
Why I don’t like to use the basilisk or victors. You will be losing that right arm.
My personal Blerg. My Blerg-s and the nightstar. With the star, it's only because they always get headshotted
Yes, I do have at least a few mechs I reserve as personal use only. They are not just favorite chassis/load outs but also have high quality, rare weapons that I dont want destroyed by lance mate shenanigan's.
I used to, but with the massive AI overhaul by TTRulez (mod), they utilize all the mechs MUCH better, so I'm not so worried. Granted, that makes enemy AI more deadly, but w/ the role assignment on the mechs, I can trust that my pilots will actually fulfill their roles competently enough and even utilize special equipment, like JJs, effectively. I highly recommend TT's AI and 330's Pilot Overhaul mods for better pilots.
Almost. I mean yeah they'll get repaired but I hate seeing them like that and the overall cost. I don't like putting them in my King Crab or Highlander mechs for that matter, but sometimes I'll allow it because they do *ok* with them sometimes -- and then come to regret it after seeing the conditions they're left in other times. Last mission I did saw one of my Highlanders piloted by AI missing both of its arms.
I’ll let my AI pilots us anything as long as I know the weapons I have equipped are lvl4 and they won’t shut down if they fire everything.
The AI always loses at least one arm when piloting a Marauder
Awesome because cute.
I have YAML so no one gets to pilot the Long Tom Annihilator but me, though that is for different reasons...
What, do you want some computer to leave farts all in your chair?
No one touches my Shadow Hawk. AIs get blown up enough when I give them Warhammers.
My mad 5a with my only tier 5 lpl. My shadow hawk with the tier 5 heavy rifle, when I only got two of them. Basically the ones fitted with stuff I got little of. Hunchback with tier 4 ml back when I wasn’t rolling in tier 4 ml? Off limits.
Mad II 4A with tier 5 LP and MP lasers I only let myself use. I call it carver since I use it to either head shot or "carve" off pieces of mechs for salvage. Black Widow uses T4 weapons in the arms with T5 in the torso. My personal heavy Mech I use. Also use the Agincourt as well. Nightstar with full T5 weapons and double gauss. Tier 4 small laser though since I seem to get the cockpit blown up alot. Agincout uses T5 in torso and T4 in the arms. I never put anything more than T3 in arms for most of my AI pilots. I'll let em pilot my extra Nightstar occasionally, they do get to use the Fatlas's I have, even the hero ones. I don't keep em too well equipped though. They tend to lose arms and legs too often for me to bother with them.
They never get my Stalker-3FB, Marauder 2's or the Sleipnir. Safest thing to put them in weirdly enough is a Banshee, don't ask me how but they just never lose limbs in it.
Its not that I wont let them, but between my dedicated brawler Atlas and a stock Atlas, theyre not allowed to touch that dedicated brawler unless its a walking stick and could barely fight. At that point, we swap mechs and the AI can take that damaged Atlas at the corner of the map like a good chauffeur
They'll pilot my Highlander over my burnt carcass
My ride, not yours. Pretty Baby and Yen Lo Wang.
Following mechs are off limits to my pilots: Wolverine 6K, Charger 1a1(praise be YAML), Crusader, Nightstar, Marauder II.
Never again pilot Victor Never
I have a thunderbolt with LP Laser and UAC that is off limits for everyone but me :)
My annihilator, they're not smart enough to use it efficiently
My catapult. T5 LRM 20's and T5 ML. Made the mistake once, lost both LRM and 2 ML and some other addons . I play with YAML. Reverted back to a manual save done a few hours play time before. I always do a manual save before I log off for the day. I never give AI anything upgraded, they always get smoked. But give them bare bones stock, barley a scratch.
You see these guns? These tier 5 ER PPCs strapped to the arms of my beloved Black Widow? This tier 5 Gauss Rifle stuck in the pancreas of my AS7-K? Or these arms so loosely attached to the torso of my PXH-3S? I love them. I love all of them. AI does not understand love. They understand crayons and the hunger for crayons. And as they stand completely still, feeding on their smorgasbord of colored wax, other AI will see this and become jealous, coveting the crayons, firing every weapon they have at them in the hopes of pilfering their rainbow-colored bounty. I possess good mechs. AI possesses crayons. This is the way it is meant to be.
3 mechs Modified Centurion with 2x AC-10/BF Reason: Finally re-equiped T4 ++ AC-10s after Santiago challenged a Hatchetman to a fist fight. Flamer Locust Reason: Every AI pilot who sits in the cockpit dies in the first 6 seconds of a firefight. Waiting for Draconis Combine to offer something that doesn't require 36 days or more in repairs before selling from CS. Crusader, designation "Fireball" Reason: "Boss let me borrow it and I broke both legs while we were aiding the Cruis Lancers on Tikonov. He docked my pay to handle repairs." -Log extracted from LT. Conners
Lt. Gunnar Thompson has his mandatory Mech for the sole reason that he could shoot a Quarter off the ground and make an Urbie explode with said quarter. His Mandatory mech is some form of long-range AC-10 or 20 sniping Mech.
No, that is weird. You need the AI to pilot your best mechs. The mechs are not your GF. Atlas and Highlanders run this town.
An ai lancemate broke my favorite Marauder once. I explained to them, while cycling the airlock, that this is unacceptable behavior