Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown
- Thread starter Drew J
- Start date
That's... interesting. So I'd have to set up 'Mechs specifically for the AI if that's true.
As for Rise of Rasalhague, I completed Predlitz with no losses, got the reward 'Mech, and bought a STK-3F from the 'Mech Market. I thought about upgrading weapons during the trip to Ginzburg, but decided against it due to refit cost in the millions. I'll take care of that after this campaign, when I'm not concerned about being able to buy new 'Mechs as needed (assuming I can buy from Ginzburg, I haven't checked).
I'm having fun with it! I think that the "Stop the Dropship" mission (whatever that was called) was the toughest fight so far, but mostly because of the lance dropped right on top of us.
You can simply configure all mechs in that fashion and use them accordingly or reconfigure the ones you use at mission start. You can rebind the controls at any point in mission in the system menu.
-edit: RoR also lets you switch mechs in mission with the Y button.
Gunzburg is actually industrial so you can buy, but RNG availability can leave you screwed if it decides not to leave you a bunch of good mechs.
That particular mission was a lot of fun. I scrambled my lance away from the pad as soon as Reyna said another ship was inbound. I remember running into most of my difficulty in Gunzburg but that was probably just my ignorance about the mission in particular.
The earlier planets didn't snag me, but the difficulty was higher given the repair timelines and having to fill out ranks with "less than ideal" heavies and assaults.
It's weird that the weapon groups need to be set that way. Do we know how that changes what the AI does? Does chain fire change anything for them besides only firing one at a time?
Just for fun, this is how I typically prioritize my groups (higher in the list means closer to Group 1):
- Long range energy weapons
- Medium lasers
- SRMs
- Ballistics, sorted by longest to shortest range
- Small lasers
- LRMs
- Melee
I have never used Chemical Lasers. This prioritization is based on having 4 buttons available on my mouse for firing, and having to hit 5 and 6 on the keyboard for those groups. My big reason for the order is that I hardly use small lasers, LRMs have their minimum range, and I occasionally accidentally click and fire group 1 or 2, and don't want to waste ammunition.
For every group with more than one weapon (except machine guns), I set them to chain fire.
I'll be checking what I can buy there, but I'm hoping I have enough heavy metal at this point.
I didn't get a chance to scramble because by time I turned around, the 'Mechs were dropping. That said, I agree it was a lot of fun; I liked the map layout and there was lots of cover for friendlies and enemies. Once the final lance dropped, it became a straight up firefight, at a range where that AC/20 is a paste-maker. When we finished off that lance, I discovered there was still an Assassin and a Locust atop the ridge by the immobile DropShip. It was funny lumbering four Heavies/Assaults over to finish off a Light and a Medium.
According to the reddit posts I saw, the AI basically checks each weapon group in sequence for "in range" followed by "enough heat capacity when choosing to fire. If you take a stock AS7-D and put the 1-4 groups as AC/20, SRM, ML, LRM, the Atlas would rush headlong into every fight and never bother softening a target with LRMs.
I'm reading a different post, though, which is recommending a slightly different setup.
The only "alt weapon" I enjoy so far is the BF ACs. I also have only four mouse buttons available so I tend to avoid fisticuff five and I don't have much point to group six.
My groupings have tended as follows: ML/MPL always fire together, multi LL chain fire, multi PPC may be one per group or chain fire, LRMs fire together, SRMs fire together, MG/SL/SPL fire together, Flamers fire together, and multi AC2 (MAL-MX90)/UAC-5 (KGC-CAR)/LB10X (AN-1-X) are two paired groups, each in chain fire.
I'll be checking what I can buy there, but I'm hoping I have enough heavy metal at this point.
I didn't get a chance to scramble because by time I turned around, the 'Mechs were dropping. That said, I agree it was a lot of fun; I liked the map layout and there was lots of cover for friendlies and enemies. Once the final lance dropped, it became a straight up firefight, at a range where that AC/20 is a paste-maker. When we finished off that lance, I discovered there was still an Assassin and a Locust atop the ridge by the immobile DropShip. It was funny lumbering four Heavies/Assaults over to finish off a Light and a Medium.
I am rather annoyed that MW5 followed the HBS BT pattern of "one lance versus the world".
Yeah, but the problems become obvious when you put in more units.
RogueTek lets you have up to I think 18, 24 units under your control for some drops (with the setting that you control convoys, maybe more.)
Single drops can be an hour or more to complete with that, at times.
MegaMek also slows to a fucking crawl if you are doing anything more than 8 on 8.
RogueTek lets you have up to I think 18, 24 units under your control for some drops (with the setting that you control convoys, maybe more.)
Single drops can be an hour or more to complete with that, at times.
MegaMek also slows to a fucking crawl if you are doing anything more than 8 on 8.
I get it, but there's only so many ways to scale up difficulty when you have a single lance/400t limit with the meat and potatoes part of the game being procedurally generated.
In addition to the length of time on drops, or the drops in frame rate, just you by yourself could probably tear through an AI-controlled lance of 'Mechs with little damage.
Thanks for the info on that! I do have TTRulez_AIMod2, which allows for assigning roles to 'Mechs. That should mitigate that issue as well. But it's good to know, if I do go back to running vanilla.
I think I have only moved melee from five to six once, and that might have been for a very custom Atlas or something. I actually like high-tier Heavy Rifles. Not because they're good, but at one point I lost the Gauss Rifles on the RFL-DNA. I outfitted it with two T4/T5 Heavy Rifles, craptons of ammo, and two MLs, and had fun with it.
I forgot about Flamers, that's how often I use them... And I actually rarely end up with 'Mechs that utilize AC/2 or LB 10-X either.
I do buy high-tier Short Burst Small and Medium Lasers, and I'll throw those on a 1E Locust, or on the Pirates' Bane Hero Locust. I'll take either of those out for when I want to solo a Demolition or Raid drop. I don't typically use them anywhere else.
It's neat to see how differently people play.
I'm not sure many folk use the larger autocannons at all. AC/10 is great, early game, but by Assault Time you either want a bunch of UAC/5 or LB5X, PPC's, Gauss, ER Large, etc.
And yeah, AC/20 should pair well with melee, but if going melee... why bother with anything other than maybe some ML, MG's, or flamers? Put the rest of your tonnage into melee mods, speed, and armor.
And yeah, AC/20 should pair well with melee, but if going melee... why bother with anything other than maybe some ML, MG's, or flamers? Put the rest of your tonnage into melee mods, speed, and armor.
Caveat from the other posts I saw, LRMs go last regardless. Vanilla AI will actually attempt to maneuver toward the minimum range to fire them and will lead to a lot of frustration.
I'm gonna take the advice of the other reddit threads I saw and start beefing up the vanilla AI with AC/20, Heavy Rifles, etc. I don't think I'll get gauss crazy for awhile.
I got the FS9-A reward from one of the early high-yield missions that I abuse on Raids and Warzones even on high tonnage. For Raids, the rest of the lance gets placed at a fatal funnel and I go troll the target location to bring bad guys out. They inevitably attack the rest of the lance when they get into the funnel of pummel so I can just walk up and apply four flamers to my heatsinks' content. The Warzone missions start with me leaving the lance somewhere not-dumb so I can rush the artillery and then we just repeat the Raid process on the satcom uplinks. I leave my lance parked at the objective while I lead the AI lance at all the last drops.
Finished the final campaign mission. I took a variation of reddit advice and took expendable lance mates. This doesn't mean low-skill, it means 6-10 or close to it that you're okay losing. The mechs have a little more leeway. I kept my Mason in the Nightstar, but the AI pilots all got an AS7-RS kitted identically: 2 PPCt2s, 1 LB-10X-SLDt1, 1 LRM20t1, 1 SRM4t2, with Lv2 armor upgrade, +5% all weapon dmg upgrade, and +10% all weapon range upgrade. Funny enough, i made it through the mission with no loss of limbs. The enemy AI had a hard time figuring out which friendly AI to target.
Certainly worked better than taking the AS7-D, KGC-CAR, and ANH-1X where the KGC and ANH lost arms before the second repair bay opened up. The best I can gather is that the AI uses DPS formulation for selecting targets so identical lance mates leave the AI struggling with target swapping if its not looking for you. The downside of this approach is twofold: 1) collecting a bunch of identical mechs for this purpose can take a lot of time even in the endgame and 2) you are fairly limited on mechs & equipment to commonly available stuff that supports all-range combat. YAML makes more chassis available since hard point sizes aren't a thing but you'll still be fairly constrained by logistics. Equalizing DPS means equalizing the equipment tier as well as type, so going beyond T1/2 gear would probably strain your logistics. I'll try to repeat this approach with KGC-0000s when I can since I already have two. Kinda sad if it wasn't just an anomaly of the final mission but proves super consistent.
Certainly worked better than taking the AS7-D, KGC-CAR, and ANH-1X where the KGC and ANH lost arms before the second repair bay opened up. The best I can gather is that the AI uses DPS formulation for selecting targets so identical lance mates leave the AI struggling with target swapping if its not looking for you. The downside of this approach is twofold: 1) collecting a bunch of identical mechs for this purpose can take a lot of time even in the endgame and 2) you are fairly limited on mechs & equipment to commonly available stuff that supports all-range combat. YAML makes more chassis available since hard point sizes aren't a thing but you'll still be fairly constrained by logistics. Equalizing DPS means equalizing the equipment tier as well as type, so going beyond T1/2 gear would probably strain your logistics. I'll try to repeat this approach with KGC-0000s when I can since I already have two. Kinda sad if it wasn't just an anomaly of the final mission but proves super consistent.
Yes, AI prioritizes DPS and range. And by that, they prefer the target that is in their most optimal range bracket.
Kind of "meta" to have all your mechs with the same fit, as they'll all be in the same range and DPS, more or less.
Kind of "meta" to have all your mechs with the same fit, as they'll all be in the same range and DPS, more or less.
True, but there's also the logistical reason behind it as well for that last mission. Opfor just starts throwing lance after lance of assaults at you in the final five minutes. The only mech that needs to survive is the player's. The lance mate mechs to fit that bill for the final mission need to be 1) 100-tonners to really get the full potential but maybe a 95-ton can do, 2) plentiful enough that losing even all three aren't crippling losses for the outfit, 3) maintains more than a majority of its DPS further out than 300m without "drop off" under that range, 4) keeps at least some of its critical firepower in the torso, 5) matches speed with most everything in the 90-100t range, and 6) brings all the armor it can.
1) limits choices to the Atlas, King Crab, Annihilator, and Marauder II...maybe Banshees.
2) AS7-RSs seem fairly commonplace once they show up in-game both in stores and in missions to salvage, but that could just be my RNG luck.
3) This is the big one. The combo of PPCs and the LB-10X SLD let the AS7-D deliver most of its DPS starting around 500m. Between three of them and the Nightstar, this gives you at least a good 15-30 seconds where enemy mechs stacked with SRMs, MLs, and AC20s can't use those weapons while your team is absolutely pummeling them. Playing vanilla means dealing with the hardpoint size limitation, hence why the other 100-tonners aren't as good for this: the AS7-D favors medium energy mounts limiting it to MLs (no range advantage) or ER MLs (rare compared to standard PPCs). The AS7-K doesn't show up until much later in-game and isn't prevalent enough for me to have looked at the hardpoints for this role. The KGC-0000 is wholly unsuitable since most of its firepower needs closer than 300m. ANHs are difficult to find unless you're constantly dropping against the Dragoons, though 12 AC/10s would be hilarious. MAD IIs are also difficult to find, though maybe downgrading the weapons to 3 PPCs and 2 MLs might do.
4) This eliminates the KGCs.
5) This eliminates the ANHs.
6) This probably eliminates the MAD IIs.
Again, this is all vanilla game. YAML opens up a lot more options.
Just chiming in to say if you need more Battletech in your life, all the novels are on HumbleBundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/..._battletechfictioncatalystgamelabs_bookbundle
Well it took all campaign, DLCs, flashpoints, and two of the three final Periphery conflict zones, but I finally managed to snag the Royal WHM and MADs alongside the MAL-1R which is a Royal-equivalent. I'm a little sad I don't have the hard points from HBS BT for the MAD-2R, but 1 Gauss and 6 ER MLs would be a bit cheaty...
Picked this up in the weekend and have put plenty hours on it! Really fun! And reading old posts, great info in this thread!
Few gameplay questions;
1) Why do SSRM (short range guided missiles) seem so rare?!And no rail gun!!? Still remember in MW2 Mercs, lance of Daikis and others spreading Rail gun death! None in this game though? I'm seeing Gauss in a spreadsheet though, ha!! "Gauss, and lostech in general, is incredibly rare until around 3030 I believe. After that they will start appearing more often, but are still rather uncommon without mods.". Niiice!
2) anyone tried the more realistic weapon velocities mod? PPC and others do feel like exceptionally slow, but ... I'm afraid it would severely skew game balance.. Maybe I'll try it in career mode later, when done with campaign... (with Battle FX; if version compatible). I'm having a bit of aiming issues with PPC, hard to lead properly given range, and not always entirely clear if/where it hit given other weapon fire and explosions everywhere..
3) How balanced/unbalanced are Hero mech? Found 2 so far, Kintaro & Javelin. Seems like some variants are underweight for the available slots, while maybe Hero or others somehow allow more equippable tonnage than others? And are the Hero mechs so much better than regular mechs, or are better variants of normal mechs just better or just as good?
4) Does AC, AC-burst, laser, PPC, etc., damage vary with range? If I recall, in previous titles, lasers could damage over their max range limit; but large damage reduction, in the same way, are these weapons more damaging at close range?
5) Is PPC 'point' weapon and damages the part that's hit by its 'tip' or does it get spread out like normal lasers? Any tips about them? On a Marauder, 2xPPC, not entirely sure yet if it's better to always fire both independently, sequentially, or 'always' as a pair? 2 buttons = more flexibility, but so many weapons/buttons! Also is PPC just better than large laser or L.Lager has some advantages; ex; heat or whatnot where you'd favor them over PPC?
[edit8] 6) Anyone has a good (complete) Mech tier list? With Variants if possible? Found some but not up to date with 2 expansions, plus no variants... And seems to me like variants make a huge difference!
[edit9] 7) Are you guys using arm lock and why? I had it off, but turned it on, since during close quarters seemed to prevent looking where you can't shoot and wasting shots, but... With slow mechs that turn slow, bit of a pain, not sure which is better.. Can you get used to using both and switching?
It's pretty fun! Far from being perfect, ex; not as detailed as MechWarriorOnline, can get repetitive, mechs hard to browse and keeps re-ordering themselves, no save loadouts that I could find for cold storage, etc., etc., so surely has its quirks, good challenge/difficulty. Very nice throwback to the MW2 Mercenaries definitely brings back very cool memories, probably like "...not the hero we wanted but the hero we got". Pretty solid Mech game, despite all its flaws
Picked up the Steam Jumpship sale (With Lancers of Kestrel + Heroes expansion). Pretty much a blast! Now have a bunch of heavies, was doing campaign but got recruited by Davion for the DLC invasion thing, was afraid my lances would be too weak, but working out great!
Picked up the Steam Jumpship sale (With Lancers of Kestrel + Heroes expansion). Pretty much a blast! Now have a bunch of heavies, was doing campaign but got recruited by Davion for the DLC invasion thing, was afraid my lances would be too weak, but working out great!
Modded a bit;
Finally installed the AI mod though after getting a bit fed up with the AI... Almost always felt like you were always the tip of the spear and your lance-mates just hung back and let you get blown up... "Let's GO!!! ... anytime now guys ... Where the hell are you guys?!". Though that likely won't help with them getting stuck in doors though lol Tried 2m the AI mod, looks like it's working awesome, even with formations!! Yes!!
Using all of the above, Max tonnage makes all missions max 400 tons, makes things easier, especially with miserly which cuts costs, but hey, more fun; less grinding! I'll likely try career without it, thinking for DLC also will disable it.. Didn't want to mod too much until I've experienced the original game (maybe for a re-visit / career mode). But yeah, overall, it's a blast!
Finally installed the AI mod though after getting a bit fed up with the AI... Almost always felt like you were always the tip of the spear and your lance-mates just hung back and let you get blown up... "Let's GO!!! ... anytime now guys ... Where the hell are you guys?!". Though that likely won't help with them getting stuck in doors though lol Tried 2m the AI mod, looks like it's working awesome, even with formations!! Yes!!
Few gameplay questions;
1) Why do SSRM (short range guided missiles) seem so rare?!
I'm seeing Gauss in a spreadsheet though, ha!! "Gauss, and lostech in general, is incredibly rare until around 3030 I believe. After that they will start appearing more often, but are still rather uncommon without mods.". Niiice!2) anyone tried the more realistic weapon velocities mod? PPC and others do feel like exceptionally slow, but ... I'm afraid it would severely skew game balance.. Maybe I'll try it in career mode later, when done with campaign... (with Battle FX; if version compatible). I'm having a bit of aiming issues with PPC, hard to lead properly given range, and not always entirely clear if/where it hit given other weapon fire and explosions everywhere..
3) How balanced/unbalanced are Hero mech? Found 2 so far, Kintaro & Javelin. Seems like some variants are underweight for the available slots, while maybe Hero or others somehow allow more equippable tonnage than others? And are the Hero mechs so much better than regular mechs, or are better variants of normal mechs just better or just as good?
4) Does AC, AC-burst, laser, PPC, etc., damage vary with range? If I recall, in previous titles, lasers could damage over their max range limit; but large damage reduction, in the same way, are these weapons more damaging at close range?
5) Is PPC 'point' weapon and damages the part that's hit by its 'tip' or does it get spread out like normal lasers? Any tips about them? On a Marauder, 2xPPC, not entirely sure yet if it's better to always fire both independently, sequentially, or 'always' as a pair? 2 buttons = more flexibility, but so many weapons/buttons! Also is PPC just better than large laser or L.Lager has some advantages; ex; heat or whatnot where you'd favor them over PPC?
[edit8] 6) Anyone has a good (complete) Mech tier list? With Variants if possible? Found some but not up to date with 2 expansions, plus no variants... And seems to me like variants make a huge difference!
[edit9] 7) Are you guys using arm lock and why? I had it off, but turned it on, since during close quarters seemed to prevent looking where you can't shoot and wasting shots, but... With slow mechs that turn slow, bit of a pain, not sure which is better.. Can you get used to using both and switching?
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Lance control is limited to "form up on you", "move toward something", "hold position", and "weapons free/weapons hold toggle". Forming on you results in a diamond formation where you are the lead position. The vanilla friendly AI is wholly incapable of driving a mech with consideration toward damage mitigation or effective dodging. You will always need to absorb the most aggro (and by extension, the most damage) of the lance in order to succeed.
I actually found the best success when my three lancemates drove identical mechs capable of all-ranges engagement because the enemy AI explicitly aggros against the highest DPS. Equal mechs at roughly similar ranges force the AI into continually switching targets until the player mech brings the pain. I would essentially murder mechs until pulling aggro and then backing off to let the AI get confused between my three lancemates.
Few gameplay questions;
1) Why do SSRM (short range guided missiles) seem so rare?!And no rail gun!!?Still remember in MW2 Mercs, lance of Daikis and others spreading Rail gun death! None in this game though?
This is where tabletop familiarity with source material comes in handy. Succession War-era tech, especially the tail end of 3SW, amounts to standard lasers, autocannons, PPCs, short-range missiles, and long-range missile. A whole host of weapons tech only becomes available by rediscovery events throughout the 3020s-3040s: Streak, LBX, UAC, extended range lasers, ER PPCs, pulse lasers, gauss, and a bevy of support systems like Double Heat Sinks. The weapons technically exist but their lack of production keeps their appearances quite rare.
Some Hero Mechs are tabletop lore and afforded some form of modifications not available to the standard production models. Centurion's Yen-Lo Wang/YLW2 comes to mind. But a lot of the Hero Mechs are creations of PGI, most of which for MechWarrior online, and considered apocryphal unless Catalyst Games Lab chooses to canonize them. Pretty sure the Kintaro (Golden Boy?) and Javelin are PGI inventions. Some are absolutely better than the production models (YLW/YLW2, Cyclops Selipnir, either King Crab IMHO), others are just different (Hunchback Grid Iron, Catapult Jester, Highlander Heavy Metal, etc).
The real value in vanilla MW5 is hardpoints by type, since MW5 uses size-limited hardpoints (and even alters quantity compared to MWO or HBS BT) and that severely constrains possible loadouts.
Energy drops off over time but projectiles should be doing the same damage provided all projectiles in a firing sequence make contact.
PPCs are single-hit weapons, like an AC round or individual missile. This question depends on the pilot and mech, but I personally configure MAD PPCs for separate weapon buttons that I normally fire as a pair together. I leave myself the option under high heat to fire one at a time. I also have a mouse that support five buttons comfortably, so there's that.
What will really bake your noodle is that AI mechs must take fire group setups into consideration and that's a concern if you swap mech control mid-mission. The recommendation for AI mechs is 1 weapon category per-fire group (if you put a PPC in 1 and the other in 2, the AI will treat it like chain-fire), then sort non-LRMs longest range-to-shortest (priority of fire), then LRMs, then melee if it remains (but really try to keep AI mechs out of melee). If you put LRMs on priority 1, then the AI mech will constantly try to move away from the enemy to try firing the LRMs again.
Woa thanks! Yeah fixed AI also rotates torsos for defense apparently, skill which I have yet to learn! Heh, but cool the concept of protecting weapons, spreading damage, etc., with torso rotation! The skills you can assign mechs is also a good addition, making which variants/mech is good/bad also dependant on assigned skills I'm guessing!
Added 2 bonus questions to previous post!
6) Anyone has a good (complete) Mech tier list? With Variants if possible? Found some but not up to date with 2 expansions, plus no variants... And seems to me like variants make a huge difference!
7) Are you guys using arm lock and why? I had it off, but turned it on, since during close quarters seemed to prevent looking where you can't shoot and wasting shots, but... With slow mechs that turn slow, bit of a pain, not sure which is better.. Can you get used to using both and switching?
My typical setup:
1 = main med damage weapon (ex; M.Laser)
2 = small spam weapon (ex; AC/2/5, SRM/2, S.Laser, MachineGun, etc.)
3 = Single hard hitter (PPC, AC10, Heavy Rifle, SRM/6, LRM/15, etc.) or chainfire for huge mechs (ex; 2xPPC)
4 = typically fist if nothing left, or #3 without chain fire
5 = alpha strike / nothing
(4/5/6 tend not to be used, but grouped for AI ex; 4x M.Laser if I split to 2 groups of ML on #1 & #2..)
But I was just setting something so AC/2 is in many groups as to make it always fire;
1 = 2x M.Laser + AC/2
2 = 2x M.Laser + AC/2
3 = LRM10/15/20
4 = PPC
So this would be no good? Shucks.. Think maybe this is fixed with the AI mod roles?
Yeah fixed AI also rotates torsos for defense apparently, skill which I have yet to learn! Heh, but cool the concept of protecting weapons, spreading damage, etc., with torso rotation! The skills you can assign mechs is also a good addition, making which variants/mech is good/bad also dependant on assigned skills I'm guessing!PICK COMBAT TARGET SYSTEM:
Biggest change to this mod is the new targeting system. It is the most complex thing I have built but I created a new radar system, building tracker, and entire target selection logic that is based off roles. This should make the AI behave more realistically. The old aggro system and focus firing the player are gone.
Biggest change to this mod is the new targeting system. It is the most complex thing I have built but I created a new radar system, building tracker, and entire target selection logic that is based off roles. This should make the AI behave more realistically. The old aggro system and focus firing the player are gone.
- Damage aggro: The AI now tracks how much damage it has taken from each enemy. The personal damage it receives is the biggest component of it target selection. Old aggro system (which each enemy stored how much damage it did regardless of target) is divided by 3.5-5 depending on mech role, this reduces focus firing the player and makes them protect themselves but consider a high output damage enemy over a less active opponent. Also now counts shots to their back as double. Making them turn quickly on any
- one shooting them in the back.
- Distance: Proximity has a big impact. Enemies directly in their face will demand attention.
- Leads target: If a lancemate or in enemy lancewill give some preference for leads target depending on role (firesupport prefers this).
- Same target: Have a slight preference to keep their own target. Limits too aggressive switching.
- Prefer units targeted by allies (focus fire)
- Prefer units near death to finish them off
- Role dependent factors adds points but isn't the only reason they target a unit:
- Scouts prefer infantry and vehicles or if none available fast light mechs
- Skirmishers prefer prefer fast light targets
- Strikers prefer slow heavier slow opponents
- Brawlers prefer heavier slow opponents
- Juggernauts prefer assualt units
- Firesupport prefer heavier units
- Missile support prefers Vehicles or if none available slower mech
- Anti-aircraft prefers VTOL, then vehicles, then slow mechs
6) Anyone has a good (complete) Mech tier list? With Variants if possible? Found some but not up to date with 2 expansions, plus no variants... And seems to me like variants make a huge difference!
7) Are you guys using arm lock and why? I had it off, but turned it on, since during close quarters seemed to prevent looking where you can't shoot and wasting shots, but... With slow mechs that turn slow, bit of a pain, not sure which is better.. Can you get used to using both and switching?
Damn this indeed is baking my noodle... So only issue if you swap mech mid-mission? (also have a few extra buttons on mouse, but besides left and right click, the side button tends to break my aim as I have to let go mouse with thumb button to click.. So tend not to use..)
My typical setup:
1 = main med damage weapon (ex; M.Laser)
2 = small spam weapon (ex; AC/2/5, SRM/2, S.Laser, MachineGun, etc.)
3 = Single hard hitter (PPC, AC10, Heavy Rifle, SRM/6, LRM/15, etc.) or chainfire for huge mechs (ex; 2xPPC)
4 = typically fist if nothing left, or #3 without chain fire
5 = alpha strike / nothing
(4/5/6 tend not to be used, but grouped for AI ex; 4x M.Laser if I split to 2 groups of ML on #1 & #2..)
But I was just setting something so AC/2 is in many groups as to make it always fire;
1 = 2x M.Laser + AC/2
2 = 2x M.Laser + AC/2
3 = LRM10/15/20
4 = PPC
So this would be no good?
Shucks.. Think maybe this is fixed with the AI mod roles?ROLES:
The entire basis of this mod is to use roles as defined in "Alpha-strike" instead of the light/notlight/LRM system created by PGI. Roles are set at the beginning of play using the gameplay tag assigned roles from PGI for the mechs variant (PNT-2R). Some mods may allow you to set these roles for lancemates yourself. If you are a mod builder making new variants, please remember to assign them the role you want them to fill on their UnitCard (preferably from "Alpha-strike" source material and/or Sarna)
Scout: Light fast mechs that generally focus on vehicles, turrets, and other light mechs. When none are available, they make slashing hit
and run attacks at heavier mechs.
Striker: Fast light or medium mechs with minimal armor butheavy close range weapons like SRMs. They flank the target then rush in from the side or back and unload their payload then try to finish off the opponent as quickly as possible. Secondary role destroying fast light enemies if no heavy enemies are present.
Skirmisher: Light and Medium mechs with good speed or JJ with distance weapons, whose primary role is to remove light fast mechs from the battlefield to protect the heavies. If no light mechs are present they will fight heavier enemies by maintaining range and cover, hit and run slashing attacks, or will skirmish (attack by flanking and then quickly withdraw if taking damage to their heavier support mechs).
Juggernaut: Slow heavy/assault mechs with heavy weaponry. They aren’t much good at dodging so they wade in trying to wipe out the enemy and depending on firesupport/brawlers to keep opponents busy while they get close enough to devastate them.
Brawler: NOT what most people think from MWO (that is juggernaut). Brawlers are slowe mechs with good armor and good long range weapons (not up close) they maintain a ranged fight against opponents usually at medium ranges, but will change range based on their opponent vs their own optimum range (if opponent is a sniper they will get closer).
Sniper/Firesupport: Slower long range mechs. These mechs follow near heavier brawlers or juggernauts and once close to the enemy they deploy to high ground and cover the other closer opponents who keep their enemies busy. If no mechs to support they try to maintain range.
Missileboat: LRM dependent mechs. These mechs move close to slower brawlers or juggernauts providing support but further back than
Sniper/Firesupport. If no mech to support try to maintain range. NEW: If out of LRM ammo they will change to brawler tactics.
Antiaircraft: AC5 or 2 equipped mechs designed to destroy VTOL/ Tanks. They will preferentially target these unit types. Secondarily they
will function as Firesupport.
The entire basis of this mod is to use roles as defined in "Alpha-strike" instead of the light/notlight/LRM system created by PGI. Roles are set at the beginning of play using the gameplay tag assigned roles from PGI for the mechs variant (PNT-2R). Some mods may allow you to set these roles for lancemates yourself. If you are a mod builder making new variants, please remember to assign them the role you want them to fill on their UnitCard (preferably from "Alpha-strike" source material and/or Sarna)
Scout: Light fast mechs that generally focus on vehicles, turrets, and other light mechs. When none are available, they make slashing hit
and run attacks at heavier mechs.
Striker: Fast light or medium mechs with minimal armor butheavy close range weapons like SRMs. They flank the target then rush in from the side or back and unload their payload then try to finish off the opponent as quickly as possible. Secondary role destroying fast light enemies if no heavy enemies are present.
Skirmisher: Light and Medium mechs with good speed or JJ with distance weapons, whose primary role is to remove light fast mechs from the battlefield to protect the heavies. If no light mechs are present they will fight heavier enemies by maintaining range and cover, hit and run slashing attacks, or will skirmish (attack by flanking and then quickly withdraw if taking damage to their heavier support mechs).
Juggernaut: Slow heavy/assault mechs with heavy weaponry. They aren’t much good at dodging so they wade in trying to wipe out the enemy and depending on firesupport/brawlers to keep opponents busy while they get close enough to devastate them.
Brawler: NOT what most people think from MWO (that is juggernaut). Brawlers are slowe mechs with good armor and good long range weapons (not up close) they maintain a ranged fight against opponents usually at medium ranges, but will change range based on their opponent vs their own optimum range (if opponent is a sniper they will get closer).
Sniper/Firesupport: Slower long range mechs. These mechs follow near heavier brawlers or juggernauts and once close to the enemy they deploy to high ground and cover the other closer opponents who keep their enemies busy. If no mechs to support they try to maintain range.
Missileboat: LRM dependent mechs. These mechs move close to slower brawlers or juggernauts providing support but further back than
Sniper/Firesupport. If no mech to support try to maintain range. NEW: If out of LRM ammo they will change to brawler tactics.
Antiaircraft: AC5 or 2 equipped mechs designed to destroy VTOL/ Tanks. They will preferentially target these unit types. Secondarily they
will function as Firesupport.
Ah ok so they'd fire, just that their maneuvers would try to put them in LRM range, which is what you'd want with a missile boat, so basically, if I used by above typical config, they'd 'break' as missile boats and try to get in M.Laser range because '1' is medium laser?! Damn.. Really hope this would be fixed with the above roles! (Or not issue without switching mechs.. Which I rarely do, just to setup firing groups if I forgot for new mechs, and repair bays for rare missions that have them)
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Welcome, MechWarrior!
I like Yet Another MechLab (YAML), if you're up for dealing with even more variants and options. The hardpoint size requirements are replaced with maximums of each weapon type for each location. So instead of having, for example, one large energy and two medium ballistic hardpoints in the right torso, you would have one energy and two ballistic, and they can be any size. I'm pretty sure that's how I was able to make my Marauder II a 5 ERPPC death machine.
There's also mods like Coyotes that add missions and whatnot, though I haven't had an opportunity to try them yet.
I have not tried the realistic weapon velocities mod, but it definitely takes some practice to get used to how each weapon responds. My primary weapons are lasers, PPCs, and SRMs. I've gotten pretty good at leading with both PPCs and SRMs against 'Mechs and VTOLs.
Despite its relatively lackluster performance, I really like to use the RFL-DNA. Dual Gauss is just fun for me, but if I only have low tier Gauss Rifles, I'll replace them with Tier 4/5 Heavy Rifles. If you've used the Rifles before, you might have noticed that they move slowly, and they have a decent arc to them. I got pretty good at sniping with the Heavy Rifles, whether it was at the leg of a Light 'Mech, or the wing of an Igor. I probably couldn't now, though, since it has been a bit.
I've never looked this up. I personally say, use what is fun for you. Sure, some 'Mechs might underarmored, undergunned, or underengined, but why not run a four Urbie lance?
I switch regularly. For me, it depends on where my weapons are, and if I need the weapons in my arms to align with the torso. Against a 'Mech that's strafing, leading with arm-mounted SRMs while firing torso lasers (or vice versa) works well. If they turn and come straight at me, I'll arm lock so I can be as accurate as possible with all my weapons. Or maybe I have torso weapons only and arm lock doesn't matter until they get close for melee.
Woa thanks!
First thing first, rebuild all your mechs to max armor and then load them up with necessary weapons. Don't try to play lesser armor until you are confident in your driving skills.
Complete? I don't think so. Mechs differ wildly between formats, games, and personal preference. Some mechs that worked great in one game don't work in others. I loved the CPLT-A1 in MWO but it is useless in MW5. The MAD-2R is a beast in HBS BT is simply a better variant of the well-balanced MAD-3R in MW5 but not nightmare fuel for the enemy. Some utterly terrible tabletop/turn based mechs can elevate to at least decent if not moreso in MW5 (the Quickdraw comes to mind). It's easier to ask but only accurate to try it yourself.
I don't and haven't had an issue.
Damn this indeed is baking my noodle... So only issue if you swap mech mid-mission? (also have a few extra buttons on mouse, but besides left and right click, the side button tends to break my aim as I have to let go mouse with thumb button to click.. So tend not to use..)
My typical setup:
1 = main med damage weapon (ex; M.Laser)
2 = small spam weapon (ex; AC/2/5, SRM/2, S.Laser, MachineGun, etc.)
3 = Single hard hitter (PPC, AC10, Heavy Rifle, SRM/6, LRM/15, etc.) or chainfire for huge mechs (ex; 2xPPC)
4 = typically fist if nothing left, or #3 without chain fire
5 = alpha strike / nothing
(4/5/6 tend not to be used, but grouped for AI ex; 4x M.Laser if I split to 2 groups of ML on #1 & #2..)
But I was just setting something so AC/2 is in many groups as to make it always fire;
1 = 2x M.Laser + AC/2
2 = 2x M.Laser + AC/2
3 = LRM10/15/20
4 = PPC
So this would be no good?
Ah ok so they'd fire, just that their maneuvers would try to put them in LRM range, which is what you'd want with a missile boat, so basically, if I used by above typical config, they'd 'break' as missile boats and try to get in M.Laser range because '1' is medium laser?! Damn.. Really hope this would be fixed with the above roles! (Or not issue without switching mechs.. Which I rarely do, just to setup firing groups if I forgot for new mechs, and repair bays for rare missions that have them)
So just by that setup you have up there, I have how I would set that up based on my current mouse, which is a wedge model where my hand naturally rests with index on 1, ring on 2, thumb on 3, and thumb can move to 4/5 easily:
1 = All AC/2s
2 = PPC
3 = All MLs
4 = All LRMS
This would work well for any vanilla lance AI as well. The issue for AI involves moving LRMS anywhere higher than melee in the fire groups since that's priority. You can get around this by not letting the AI drive that particular mech except in specific situations (like base destruction once no enemy mechs around) or simply not using LRMs at all.
I tend to find LRMs in MW5 utterly frustrating since the lock drops so easily between firing and salvo arrival that I'd rather just use PPCs at range and they don't do anything besides standard damage. HBS BT being turn-based, LRMs inflict stability damage which contributes to mech instability and knock-down...a mechanic not present in MW5 at all.
Started a career as the DLC Davion event are a bit too long and just wanted to do few short missions, and wow, the early missions with starting mechs can be a real pain!! But seems to be more special items, hero mechs, etc., than campaign, but maybe just flew further and visited more more systems..
Overall still very good fun. You can kinda work around AI by move orders and such, and I guess although it doesn't feel like it, the enemy AI is likely just as bad... Think giving a position order before the fight helps a lot, as otherwise they often look like they're trying to chase you rather than fight.
Got lucky in an assassination missions where AI blackjack was 'stuck' in long range, took 15m to kill it with an AC2, almost pointless weapon at 2 dmg, just good for helis/tanks I guess, to conserve ex AC5 ammo.. Even a full AC Jager shows ~15 firepower with 2x AC5 and 1x AC2, which is 10 less than a Raven with 2 medium lasers and a SRM6 (~25). AC Jagers and AC Hunchbacks seem to work quite well at taking out enemies though...!
Oh... And it would be SO NICE to have AI attack destructible mission objectives....... So annoying to have 3 AI looking at you shooting at a building with a medium laser for 5m, when they could all also be firing...!
What also helps gameplay is not fretting about buying high grade weapons in case of or for the future, buy'em when you need'em.. YAGNI (You aren't gonna need it)
(EDIT: Actually kept mentionning MW2 Mercs, it was actually MW4... Since this is 5, I thought a year 2000 MW title would be 2... But NOPE!! There's just a 20y gap between #4 and #5...!
#1 = 1989,
#2 = 1995,
#3 = 1999,
#4 = 2000,
#5 = 2019)
1) even with the AI mod, the AI isn't very good, maybe even worse than in MW2... They all too often just wonder off, don't attack after "attack my target", get lost in a corner, 3v1 somehow becomes 1v1 because AI doing tourism, etc... Don't recall it being that bad in MW2.. Ex; a FLEA can 3/4 kill your LRM Jenner running between two short range death boats where pilots are asleep at the wheel...!
2) spawns... Awful... Assassination missions for instance, you kill a medium with your light mechs, and all a sudden like 2-3 other mechs appear out of nowhere..
3) I'll echo a comment about fighting mechs and not tanks/turrets... Pretty annoying that you're walking, nothing on the radar, then all of a sudden get pop'd, because a turret just popped out of the ground or tank again just popped out of nowhere... At least if your damn
4) radar worked right... Can't they detect turrets before they pop up?! Or make a noise? And what's up with the vanishing?! Something pops up in the radar that's 100% out of view, you shoot it, then it just vanishes for some reason, the re-appear 5s later.. Even things in plain sight, you're targeting them; 2k, 1.8k, 1.6k, then woops, lose radar for no reason ... ... 800m, radar works again finally wtf
5) spawns some missions you're left waiting and waiting for spawns, which never seem to come because an enemy is lost or stuck and it won't trigger until you kill'em..
6) hero mechs.. Yeah... Kinda not balanced.. But hey lol
2) spawns... Awful... Assassination missions for instance, you kill a medium with your light mechs, and all a sudden like 2-3 other mechs appear out of nowhere..
3) I'll echo a comment about fighting mechs and not tanks/turrets... Pretty annoying that you're walking, nothing on the radar, then all of a sudden get pop'd, because a turret just popped out of the ground or tank again just popped out of nowhere... At least if your damn
4) radar worked right... Can't they detect turrets before they pop up?! Or make a noise? And what's up with the vanishing?! Something pops up in the radar that's 100% out of view, you shoot it, then it just vanishes for some reason, the re-appear 5s later.. Even things in plain sight, you're targeting them; 2k, 1.8k, 1.6k, then woops, lose radar for no reason ... ... 800m, radar works again finally wtf
5) spawns some missions you're left waiting and waiting for spawns, which never seem to come because an enemy is lost or stuck and it won't trigger until you kill'em..
6) hero mechs.. Yeah... Kinda not balanced.. But hey lol
Overall still very good fun. You can kinda work around AI by move orders and such, and I guess although it doesn't feel like it, the enemy AI is likely just as bad... Think giving a position order before the fight helps a lot, as otherwise they often look like they're trying to chase you rather than fight.
Yes!! I remember sniping off limbs with Gauss and stuff in MW2M! LOL Very satisfying!
Got lucky in an assassination missions where AI blackjack was 'stuck' in long range, took 15m to kill it with an AC2, almost pointless weapon at 2 dmg, just good for helis/tanks I guess, to conserve ex AC5 ammo.. Even a full AC Jager shows ~15 firepower with 2x AC5 and 1x AC2, which is 10 less than a Raven with 2 medium lasers and a SRM6 (~25). AC Jagers and AC Hunchbacks seem to work quite well at taking out enemies though...!
Oh... And it would be SO NICE to have AI attack destructible mission objectives....... So annoying to have 3 AI looking at you shooting at a building with a medium laser for 5m, when they could all also be firing...!
What also helps gameplay is not fretting about buying high grade weapons in case of or for the future, buy'em when you need'em.. YAGNI (You aren't gonna need it)
When it comes to distributing armor in MechWarrior, there is often a focus on prioritizing the front of the mech. Here's what the search results suggest:
- Most Armor to the Front: It is generally recommended to allocate the majority of your armor to the front of your mech. This is because the front is the most likely area to be targeted by enemy fire, and having more armor there can help protect critical components and keep your mech operational.
- Balance Front and Rear Armor: While the front should receive the most armor, it is also important to have a sufficient amount of armor in the rear of your mech. The rear armor is typically weaker than the front, but it should still be able to withstand certain attacks, such as an AC/20 shot. Having a balanced distribution ensures that you have some protection from rear attacks.
- Consider Mech Class: The distribution of front and rear armor can also vary depending on the class of your mech. For example, lighter mechs may allocate less armor to the rear compared to heavier assault mechs. It's important to consider the capabilities and vulnerabilities of your specific mech when determining the armor distribution.
- Weak Rear Armor: It's worth noting that mechs generally have weaker rear armor compared to the front. Rear-arc shots can ignore defenses such as cover and guarded positions. This further emphasizes the importance of having some armor in the rear to mitigate damage from attacks.
(EDIT: Actually kept mentionning MW2 Mercs, it was actually MW4... Since this is 5, I thought a year 2000 MW title would be 2... But NOPE!! There's just a 20y gap between #4 and #5...!
#1 = 1989,
#2 = 1995,
#3 = 1999,
#4 = 2000,
#5 = 2019)
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Another DLC! I was kind of surprised we got the last one, so this is positive.
Ugh, not a fan of the Weeb faction. Though, of the “Big 5”, I think FWL pisses me off the least. But they don’t do much in the way of anything interesting, so I am doubtful of getting any DLC of them. On the positive side, we’re getting another LRM hose: The Longbow. Not sure what it gives over Archer or Stalker, but it’s available. As a bonus, these won’t give me nuclear PTSD like the AIV armed Longbows in Roguetech did.
Interesting that they chose the Draconis Combine as the employer, considering their stance on mercenaries by 3028. Of course, missions for leaving their employ may be in the cards...
I'm betting this DLC is more War of 3039 centric than 3028.
Besides, it's not like MW5 was at all lore accurate in its contracting system with regard to the Combine.
Oh, I get why they weren't lore accurate for contracts in general from the Combine, but having a major campaign centered around fighting for them between 3025 and 3050 stuck me as odd, with my knowledge about stuff like this being more of a broad strokes kind of thing.
I did look at the DLC page and you become part of the 5th Amphigean Light Assault Group, which, when I looked it up on Sarna, is exempted from Takashi Kurita's "Death to Mercenaries" edict. So, I am corrected on my initial assumption, and happy with that attention to detail!
Of course, said exemption is that said group is "viewed as internally raised corporate security troops serving under perpetual contract to the DCMS." We still might get an interesting mission or two in order to "leave Combine employ."
I did look at the DLC page and you become part of the 5th Amphigean Light Assault Group, which, when I looked it up on Sarna, is exempted from Takashi Kurita's "Death to Mercenaries" edict. So, I am corrected on my initial assumption, and happy with that attention to detail!
Of course, said exemption is that said group is "viewed as internally raised corporate security troops serving under perpetual contract to the DCMS." We still might get an interesting mission or two in order to "leave Combine employ."
Some new info out about the latest DLC, showing off the Otomo variants, and that there will be "an enhanced Difficulty Settings section" where you can select Easy, Normal, Hard, or Custom. Options for Custom include:
Seems like they've been taking a page from some of the mods that make similar changes. Hopefully if they do one more DLC before the release of MW5: Clans, they'll add even more mod niceties.
Am I looking forward to my mods breaking again? No. Especially because fewer mods get updated each time. Alas, I don't have time to make mods myself, so I stomp with what is available.
Custom Difficulty Options:
- Unlimited Ammo: "Shooting no longer consumes ammo. At least one ammo still required to shoot."
- Extra Heat Dissipation: "Dramatically increases cooling for player and lancemate 'Mechs."
- Enemy Accuracy: "Multiplier for enemy Accuracy. Stacks with co-op and skill bonuses. Values less than one reduce enemy accuracy."
- Enemy Lethality: "Adjusts the frequency of enemies targeting weaker components. Values less than one reduce the chance."
- Enemy Artillery Fire Rate: "Adjusts how frequently enemy artillery fires on the player. Higher values result in more frequent volleys."
- Repair Time: "Multiplier for number of days required for repairs. Setting to zero makes repairs instant."
- Repair Cost: "Multiplier for the C-bill cost of repairs. Values less than one reduce the cost."'
- 'Mech Upkeep: "Multiplier for quarterly 'Mech upkeep costs. Values less than one reduce the cost."
- Storage Cost: "Multiplier for quarterly storage cost of additional 'Mechbays. Values less than one reduce the cost."
- Over Tonnage Salvage Penalty: "Multiplier for the salvage penalty for exceeding a mission's max tonnage. Setting to zero removes the penalty."
- Over Tonnage C-Bill Penalty: "Multiplier for the C-bill penalty for exceeding a mission's max tonnage. Setting to zero removes the penalty."
Am I looking forward to my mods breaking again? No. Especially because fewer mods get updated each time. Alas, I don't have time to make mods myself, so I stomp with what is available.
Set settings for 7-year-old!MW5 gets Parental Settings, I see.
Not that it would make much difference with my mods... When you get a mission with an attack Leopard that also drops off a heavy lance of 'Mechs, you're in for a bad time.
Also, I hated that mission; I gave up and loaded my previous save. There was no cover, the convoy was well-armored, had four 'Mechs escorting it, and then you add in the Leopard and additional lance, plus any randos running around. It was wayyyyyy too much for my assault lance.
Right, The Dragon's Gambit.
With the gap between The Dragon's Gambit and... whenever Clans will be released, I'm curious if they'll go for #6 on MW5:Mercs DLC, which is what I was referring to above. Maybe such a DLC would have some missions along the Periphery in 3049...
I got a feeling the Dragon’s Gambit will be the last. To my recollection, the DLC only really missed the Andurian (or however you spell it) Conflict. 3040-late 3049/3050 was just the build up to the “inevitable” FedCom vs All 5th Succession War until they got the “Challenger Approaching” notification and the Clans wrecked house for a bit.
Yeah a bit lame if the new game features were already covered by mods...
One mod I would love to see is a mod which removes the restriction and costs of your hangar. This game couldn't possibly be conceived as a simulation of what it would be like to run a lance of mech, I mean it could...... But it's not like increasing the number of active mechs would break any immersion..... You can actually already store an unlimited number of mechs on your ship, and infinite weapons/ammo, it's just that you can't store a mech with weapons and armor because what.......... Storing them seperately somehow takes less space or weigh less? Anyway, I really can't see an upside to this arbitrary limitation, just not fun.
Already using the Miserly mod which lessens costs, but having to constantly store mechs is kinda annoying.... I'd rather not have that limitation, as rebuilding and not even being able to save templates or mech configs is just plain annoying.
Also why is there no sort by weight options for your hangar?! You can sort your stored mechs by different metrics, but not your active mechs?!#% Why not!!! And if you can't sort them, I wish the game would stop messing with the order.......................... Sigh
Anyway; final thoughts on game, overall, fun, not bad! Bit limited in what you can do, some missions are broken (takes forever to get to mission point becasue of huge detour or too far, bugged mission where 1 enemy is missing on underneath the ground, ridiculous # of enemies or spawns, skewed difficulty, dumb AI acting dumb, etc.,), but overall, good fun 'light' mech game.
One mod I would love to see is a mod which removes the restriction and costs of your hangar. This game couldn't possibly be conceived as a simulation of what it would be like to run a lance of mech, I mean it could...... But it's not like increasing the number of active mechs would break any immersion..... You can actually already store an unlimited number of mechs on your ship, and infinite weapons/ammo, it's just that you can't store a mech with weapons and armor because what.......... Storing them seperately somehow takes less space or weigh less? Anyway, I really can't see an upside to this arbitrary limitation, just not fun.
Already using the Miserly mod which lessens costs, but having to constantly store mechs is kinda annoying.... I'd rather not have that limitation, as rebuilding and not even being able to save templates or mech configs is just plain annoying.
Also why is there no sort by weight options for your hangar?! You can sort your stored mechs by different metrics, but not your active mechs?!#% Why not!!! And if you can't sort them, I wish the game would stop messing with the order.......................... Sigh
Anyway; final thoughts on game, overall, fun, not bad! Bit limited in what you can do, some missions are broken (takes forever to get to mission point becasue of huge detour or too far, bugged mission where 1 enemy is missing on underneath the ground, ridiculous # of enemies or spawns, skewed difficulty, dumb AI acting dumb, etc.,), but overall, good fun 'light' mech game.
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DLC6 announced: It's Solaris Time!
discord.com
Official Solaris support, coming next month, 14 March. Comes with new Loader King mech.
VonSeiten introduced Solaris missions in vonMissions mod, as a beta, but now it looks like PGI has made it official.
Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games
Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.
Official Solaris support, coming next month, 14 March. Comes with new Loader King mech.
VonSeiten introduced Solaris missions in vonMissions mod, as a beta, but now it looks like PGI has made it official.