Battletech (PC) Persistent Campaign Discussion

I've been trying to build my own content by hacking together .json files... thus far they aren't working yet.

 

Very intersted in the concept, if I can find time.

Obviously, we aren't talking immediate future, but as an example I have 3 blog posts, a 15 page book, 5 characters, and an adventure all to write by next weekend. Plus I need to finish editing 2 books this week.

 

That was a fun match between my jenner, kintaro, quickdraw and victor against a vindicator centurion orion and awesome. The cent and orion pushed far enough that they were not getting much support from the vindicator and awesome. Also the AI seems to use the precsion strike alot. Ends up making the awesome far less dangerous.

 

I find that if you want the AI to do anything remotely intelligent you have to actually build the mechs for the opposition intelligently, including making sure they have the appropriate pilots for the mechs they're running. The AI will severely handicap a decent mech if you put a pilot with an ability that doesn't mesh well, such as precision shot, which is a great ability, but is only useful with certain mech builds, or under specific circumstances. Hopefully the AI is also a work in progress, but at the moment if you want a challenge, build the enemy team just as lovingly as you build your own. Except keep simplicity in mind, giving an Awesome a pilot with precision because it has a PPC is probably just going to cause the Awesome to be wasted as a sniper in the back.

 

Hunchbacks in general have been pretty tough. I love it.

 

I might like the laser hunchback more thqn the ac20 one. Though they might work even better in pairs. Use ac20 one first to open a mech up and laser to finish a mech.

 

Digging through the AI there are currently about 3 active patterns;

Most mechs are by default given Brawler archetypes. They are fairly aggressive, strongly prefer to attack targets to which they can do the most damage, show little positioning preference except preferring to present their strongest armor facing to an enemy, and have a greater willingness to enter melee distance than other archetypes do, and are strong at melee attacks.. Brawlers have a very slight preference to gaining higher ground. They prefer not to bunch up with friendly units. They will always try to brace when unsteady. Expect brawlers to move in aggressively, show no interest in flanking, and brace often when under heavy fire.

The Flanker archetype is also quite aggressive, but fairly rare. Flanker archetypes have a strong preference to attack targets to which they can do the most damage, nearly as high of a preference to targets with low armor, a slight preference for flanking shots, and a preference to present their strongest armor facing to the enemy. They are more willing to enter melee distance than any archetype except the Brawler, but do less damage than Brawlers in melee. They prefer not to bunch up with friendly units. Expect flankers to always try to maneuver aggressively and pursue weak or wounded targets first, and never to brace.

The Sniper archetype is slightly less common than Brawlers. Snipers also prefer to attack targets to which they can do the most damage, and have similar preferences to engaging weak armor and taking flanking shots as does the Flanker. Unlike the other archetypes, they strongly prefer to stay outside melee distance whenever possible, and also show a strong preference to placing themselves not only where they are unlikely to receive fire, but also where they will receive little damage if hit. They exhibit the highest preference to gaining high ground. Snipers gain a bonus to ranged damage. Expect Snipers to play cautiously, but to attack opportunistically against the weakest targets available, particularly when they can get flanking shots, and never to brace.

The Spotter archetype is the least aggressive and least common. They share the Sniper's preference to gain high ground when possible and a moderate preference position themselves where they are difficult to target and damage. Their strongest preference is to maintain LOS on enemy targets. They prefer to stay outside of melee range, have only a slight preference to attack targets to which they can do the most damage, and tend to do diminished melee and ranged damage. They have no tendency to brace. Expect Spotters to present relatively little direct threat, but to instead try to stay out of the line of fire and try to hold LoS, and never to brace. Probably a lowest target priority except when the enemy team is LRM-heavy. Currently the naming for Spotters seems to be inconsistent, and the mech files list the role as "Scout", so it's likely they aren't working correctly right now.

So in terms of exploiting AI, its pretty easy to split Snipers from Brawlers and Flankers just by engaging from a strong position and not offering them easy long-range shots from high ground. Brawlers can be locked down by heavy missile fire. Flankers are the nastiest threat due to the potency of flanking in this game, and should be focused quickly if at all possible.

Archetype role by chassis:

Brawler:
Atlas AS7-D
Battlemaster BLR-1G
Centurion CN9-A
Centurion CN9-AL
Hunchback HBK-4G
Hunchback HBK-4P
Orion ON1-K
Orion ON1-V
Quickdraw QKD-4G
Quickdraw QKD-5A
Urbanmech UM-R60
Victor VTR-9B
Victor VTR-9S


Flanker:
Commando COM-1B
Commando COM-2D
Griffin GRF-1S
Jenner JR7-D
Kintaro KTO-18
Shadowhawk SHD-2D
Shadowhawk SHD-2H

Sniper:
Awesome AWS-8Q
Awesome AWS-8T
Catapult CPLT-C1
Griffin GRF-1N
Jagermech JM6-A
Jagermech JM6-S
Locust LCT-1M
Panther PNT-9R
Trebuchet TBT-5N
Vindicator VND-1R

Spotter/Scout:
Griffin GRF-1N
Locust LCT-1S
Locust LCT-1V
Shadowhawk SHD-2H

The individual pilot files don't show any tendencies towards a specific role, so it looks like behavior is determined by mech selection.

Though also be aware that different mechs with the same archetype won't always behave the same, due to their differences in capabilities. For example, as a Sniper the Awesome will tend to prefer to hang back, but if you get to close, its greater preference to dealing high damage against weak armor will kick in and it will attempt to flank you and melee for ungodly amounts of damage (almost as high as an Atlas, and quite a bit higher than a Battlemaster... which I find odd).

 

yet the last game I had found the urbanmechs acting like spotter/sniper

 

Usually when i fight urbies they stay at range.

 

I've noticed that too, yet they don't try to flank like a sniper should. My suspicion is that they have little incentive to close range due to their autocannon providing nearly all their firepower, and that their poor movement rate discourages moving very much... AI by default likes to keep LOS on a target, and on any rough or hilly terrain the Urbie can easily lose LOS when moving.

There also seems to be some self-preservation function built in that encourages 'mechs to disengage when below a certain armor threshold, and that may also be discouraging the Urbies from directly engaging heavier forces... I haven't found or figured out all the logic.

 

Also interesting is the "lifepath" file:
BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\lifepathNode

Basically it looks sort of like the Mechwarrior RPG, where you start with some background (noble or commoner from a variety of great houses or periphery) and then have various possibilities that can randomly send you to a career as a merchant, pirate, military recruit, mercenary, tech, military officer, criminal, noble functionary, or even a Comstar adept (which seems to reward you shit ton of tactics and little else), with each layer of progress defining what attributes your pilot gains.

 

I am so behind on datamining...

 

Don't worry. People were datamining in the skirmish beta.

 

I thought I was seeing more King Crabs near the CC.