MechCommander: targeting is useless

[Michael Wang]

Well, thanks to the cheat somebody posted I went back and tried to do
better in earlier missions since, being invulnerable, I could take my
time and try and get more salvaged mechs. Unfortunately, targeting is
absolutely useless in trying to "preserve" enemy mechs for salvage. I
tried both tactics described in the manual -- shooting at the head or
shooting off both legs. In either case, there's a better than even
chance that the mech will still blowup. Yes that's right, even if only
the head was targeted and the rest of the mech was unscratched,
chances are you won't get the salvage cause the engine will still blow
up. The only benefit of targeting is that on the off chance you don't
blow up the mech, more of the weapons will be intact. But for those
people who don't have infinite time to keep trying over and over
again, it's better just to blast the heck of the mech and hope you get
the salvage. The chances are the same and it's a lot quicker
(destroying a mech by targeting is extremely slow).

Frankly, I think the designers intentionally designed the game to
frustrate gamers. Everytime they had a decision to make about whether
to make the game easier on the gamer or harder, they made it harder. I
guess that's how they figured they would add "depth" to the game.

[John Yuen]

Michael Wang wrote:

> Well, thanks to the cheat somebody posted I went back and tried to do
> better in earlier missions since, being invulnerable, I could take my
> time and try and get more salvaged mechs. Unfortunately, targeting is
> absolutely useless in trying to "preserve" enemy mechs for salvage. I
> tried both tactics described in the manual -- shooting at the head or
> shooting off both legs. In either case, there's a better than even
> chance that the mech will still blowup. Yes that's right, even if only
> the head was targeted and the rest of the mech was unscratched,
> chances are you won't get the salvage cause the engine will still blow
> up. The only benefit of targeting is that on the off chance you don't
> blow up the mech, more of the weapons will be intact. But for those
> people who don't have infinite time to keep trying over and over
> again, it's better just to blast the heck of the mech and hope you get
> the salvage. The chances are the same and it's a lot quicker
> (destroying a mech by targeting is extremely slow).
>

In the early game, your pilot just don't have the skill to consistently
hit a particular part of a mech, abd missile weapon cannot be targeted
well anyway. I have gotten the MADcat in mission 3 by backing of my
missile armed mech once the enemy have been damaged heavily and use only
mech with laser or light projectile weapon (not Gauss or Autocannon) and
I mange to get it in my 2nd try. I tried 3 times previously with all my
mech firing and end up destroying everytime. Until your pilots gets
better, you need to use the right weapon combo and a bit of luck.

Regards
John Yuen

[Thrasher]

On Wed, 01 Jul 1998 09:16:41 -0700, John Yuen <jy...@infinex.com>
wrote:

>In the early game, your pilot just don't have the skill to consistently
>hit a particular part of a mech, abd missile weapon cannot be targeted
>well anyway. I have gotten the MADcat in mission 3 by backing of my
>missile armed mech once the enemy have been damaged heavily and use only
>mech with laser or light projectile weapon (not Gauss or Autocannon) and
>I mange to get it in my 2nd try. I tried 3 times previously with all my
>mech firing and end up destroying everytime. Until your pilots gets
>better, you need to use the right weapon combo and a bit of luck.

You know, I heard this before, but I've experimeted with elite pilots
with both methods and I can't see any difference in salvage. I was
able to salvage about 30% of the mechs from every mission, right from
the start, with no location targetting. The percentage remained the
same calling shots later in the game. I think it is broke.

By the way, the best way to salvage chicken walkers seems to be with
artillery. These guys take critical hits in the head when the wind
blows, which is a damn good reason not to use them if you have thor or
loki chassis, but the madcat and vulture can help early in the game.

[Michael Wang]

In article <359A60E6...@infinex.com>,

John Yuen <jy...@infinex.com> wrote:
>In the early game, your pilot just don't have the skill to consistently
>hit a particular part of a mech, abd missile weapon cannot be targeted
>well anyway.

Yes and no. Yes they only hit a targetted part very rarely, but they
do hit it. You just have to be patient (and of course, use the cheat).

>I have gotten the MADcat in mission 3 by backing of my
>missile armed mech once the enemy have been damaged heavily and use only
>mech with laser or light projectile weapon (not Gauss or Autocannon) and
>I mange to get it in my 2nd try. I tried 3 times previously with all my
>mech firing and end up destroying everytime. Until your pilots gets
>better, you need to use the right weapon combo and a bit of luck.

Yes, the good ol' "plink of death". It's one of the strategies
recommended in the strategy book. I've setup a couple of mechs with
only a single pulse laser each and am experimenting to see if that
increases the chance of salvage. So far the results are inconclusive
but seems to be no worse than any of the other methods I've tried
(mass destruction, targeting head, targeting legs, DFA).

[jc...@uclink.berkeley.edu]

> Yes, the good ol' "plink of death". It's one of the strategies
> recommended in the strategy book. I've setup a couple of mechs with
> only a single pulse laser each and am experimenting to see if that
> increases the chance of salvage. So far the results are inconclusive
> but seems to be no worse than any of the other methods I've tried
> (mass destruction, targeting head, targeting legs, DFA).

The best way I've gone about to gathering salvaged mech chassis was the
utilization of the minelayer. It takes some time but its well worth the
effort. I got a bunch of Omni mechs from luring them into giant minefields
during the last few missions. 3 Masakari backed by Lokis and Mad Cats. Sweet.
Who needs the Atlas? =)

Now, why wasn't the DAISHI Omni Mech included? To powerful? =)

Joseph Twu
Lamebrain/bort
Game Oracle Site Manager
www.gameoracle.com

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