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MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games - now on Steam and GOG

Vaarna_Aarne

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I mentioned side jump jets earlier, and how one neat thing they planned for MekPak 4 was putting them back in. Still, jump jets have always been far too slow and overall mobility has remained too low. Again, average level of skill involved remains too low, as Miyazaki (AKA the Souls games guy) was mentioned before by Morgoth the thing is that you need to have a skill curve going like this: https://youtu.be/M66PMn8BdME at scrub -> https://youtu.be/g6IpcH_HqzY after git gud.

It does not need to be literally 1000+ mph combat, but it needs to be faster and more intense, with a greater degree of skill factored in. This has always been the core weakness of every MechWarrior game, they are baby-slow shooters where you can't take off the training wheels, with very simple level of simulation and mechanics. I wouldn't like them nearly as much as I do if I didn't have such a soft spot for BattleTech itself and many of the games themselves.

(Speaking of DFA, that's another thing where MW4 made things very funky and odd since it too has a very very picky targeting zone)
 

Cael

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Does collision even do damage in MW4? I can't recall it ever happening.

In MW2M, play the mission where you are in the Pegasus and tell me if it is sluggish :D

BTW, by far the most sluggish vehicle game I ever played was Starfleet Command 3.That was sluggish :P
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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It does, just basically a tiny little bump with this almost funny sound of someone slapping sheet metal. Or if DFA is succesful there's absolutely no fucking way of telling how fucked up the damage levels are going to be for either party, since it seemed that DFA hit is determined INDEPEDENTLY for both sides so there is the slight chance that you just get DFA leg damage and knockdown chance but the target gets collision damage and vice versa. It still retains the same humorous little sheet metal slap sound tho.

Remind me, was Starfleet Command that one where you... Oh wait no I'm thinking of Starfleet Academy Bridge Command or something like that I think, but yea a game where you command a starship from the captain's chair and it's prepostrously complicated business.
 

Cael

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No. SFC3 is... well, pics don't do it justice. Let's just say that it is like WW2 battleships fighting each other at 60,000 yards in real time.
 

Cosmic Bane

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I mentioned side jump jets earlier, and how one neat thing they planned for MekPak 4 was putting them back in. Still, jump jets have always been far too slow and overall mobility has remained too low. Again, average level of skill involved remains too low, as Miyazaki (AKA the Souls games guy) was mentioned before by Morgoth the thing is that you need to have a skill curve going like this: https://youtu.be/M66PMn8BdME at scrub -> https://youtu.be/g6IpcH_HqzY after git gud.

It does not need to be literally 1000+ mph combat, but it needs to be faster and more intense, with a greater degree of skill factored in. This has always been the core weakness of every MechWarrior game, they are baby-slow shooters where you can't take off the training wheels, with very simple level of simulation and mechanics. I wouldn't like them nearly as much as I do if I didn't have such a soft spot for BattleTech itself and many of the games themselves.

(Speaking of DFA, that's another thing where MW4 made things very funky and odd since it too has a very very picky targeting zone)

Nah, you and morgoth are just wrong about that, especially when it comes to jump jet combat. Skill matters an awful lot in these games. They are also often going 100 mph+ just with running, and much faster with jump jets so your criticism doesn't even make any sense and just screams out that you have not really played much.

You can play some online and you will see how much skill matters when you go against a human. A whole lot.

Armored core is just a whole different kind of game and not really comparable to MW except they both have some kind of robots. It's like being mad at jagged alliance because it's not metroid, it doesn't even really compute.
 

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No. SFC3 is... well, pics don't do it justice. Let's just say that it is like WW2 battleships fighting each other at 60,000 yards in real time.
So it's almost like the inverse of Derek Smart fighter piloting, hit a 10-20 meter object moving at near-relativistic velocities while you do the same.
 

Cael

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Everything is autoaimed. You just press a button and pray the RNG likes you.
 

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Everything is autoaimed. You just press a button and pray the RNG likes you.
Yea exactly the inverse of Derek Smart space fighters, where you have to manually aim the non-hitscan projectile to lead on the other fighter also moving at near-relativistic velocity.

Hence why I call bullshit if anyone claims they actually hit anyone in a dogfight in a Derek Smart game. Any video evidence would be 100% hoaxed, even live demonstration would call for extreme measures to make sure this isn't some con artist psychic deal.
 

Cosmic Bane

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It's only your difference in speed that matters. Again, you obviously did not play much of that game, if any.

Calling MW a slow shooter is especially ridiculous. Is m1 abrams tank platoon a slow shooter?

MW is not a shooter it's a combination of squad tactics and tank warfare like if you mixed JA 2 with M1 Tank Platoon. Positioning, ambushes, mobility and careful aim are what MW is about. Armored Core is about running around and plastering a million gay enemies as fast as possible.
 

Cael

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Everything is autoaimed. You just press a button and pray the RNG likes you.
Yea exactly the inverse of Derek Smart space fighters, where you have to manually aim the non-hitscan projectile to lead on the other fighter also moving at near-relativistic velocity.

Hence why I call bullshit if anyone claims they actually hit anyone in a dogfight in a Derek Smart game. Any video evidence would be 100% hoaxed, even live demonstration would call for extreme measures to make sure this isn't some con artist psychic deal.
I don't know about that... I was pretty good with the Druuge Mauler back in the day. Used to nail human or AI players from across the screen while travelling at a pretty hefty clip from a planetary slingshot.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Derek Smart's games have never been rated as highly as Star Control 2 or Ur-Quan Masters. But hey, the man tried his damn hardest, and is an inspiration to everyone who has ever shitposted!

It's only your difference in speed that matters. Again, you obviously did not play much of that game, if any.

Calling MW a slow shooter is especially ridiculous. Is m1 abrams tank platoon a slow shooter?

MW is not a shooter it's a combination of squad tactics and tank warfare like if you mixed JA 2 with M1 Tank Platoon. Positioning, ambushes, mobility and careful aim are what MW is about. Armored Core is about running around and plastering a million gay enemies as fast as possible.
See, now you're mistaking reality with game design to very detrimental effects. See, the BattleMechs simply are NOT a tank platoon because they have hit points. Real tanks do not. Real tanks do not have an armor plating that is withered away with repeated fire that can be measured with a decreasing numerical value, BattleTech or MechWarrior has never handled penetration as a major factor in any fashion as real tanks don't care just for critical hits (or rather, any proper hit IS a critical hit for them), very few mech simulators ever have used penetration as a thing. The way armor is handled is a distinct SHOOTER identifier in MW games, as it is in many 'mech simulators, hence their position in a larger more abstract genre as shooters. Furthermore, one would have to note that an M1 tank or any tank for the matter is not a vertical construct like 'Mechs are, which is a pretty important difference.

Moreover, MW has always been built to not make ambushes outside of prescripted AI awareness possible because of highly accurate NLOS radar with NLOS detection variation between 400-1000m depending on specifics of the game, ECM Y/N and sensor mode. The only possibility of ambush lies in shutdown, and even then it literally matters squat because the only way it can work is by poptarting after a spotter (whose existence will sort of tip the other guys off with "oh it's that thing"). The AI naturally doesn't give any fucks about this sort of thing unless it's been specifically made to give a shit about that kind of thing for that particular mission, but I'm talking about the mechanics and not mission design anyway. This anyway is why MekPak 4's plans to gut NLOS radar were such great promise. This is generally compounded by the fact that before MWO every MechWarrior game was made in an era when 3D graphics couldn't really do camouflage particularly well, and the fact these are games involving large vertical combatants. Returning to previous analogy presented, M1 tanks do not have built-in NLOS radar systems among their equipment either, though oddly enough BattleMechs and other sorts of mechs in simulators extremely rarely possess thermal imaging or infrared which is kind of a strange and amusing reversal of the state of affairs.

See, the thing is that a tank is rather well equipped to destroy an equivalent tank. A single solid hit will very likely inflict one of the three categories of kills, weapon, mobility, or total. Furthermore, they do not fight only themselves, there are numerous man-portable specialised weapons that can also with correct application do the same. These are also something that MW games completely ignore, damaging the analogy further, despite canonical purposes of UrbanMech because if memory serves the poor bastard on foot would have the equivalent of a small laser. Simply put, MW does not present a combined arms approach, it's just 'mech on 'mech combat with occasional tank or vehicle who are there generally for relaxation and merriment.


But returning to actual matter, the issue is that a BattleMech in MW games overall rarely has more than 120kph top speed and usually their ability to turn and maneuver is faced with hard limitations (such as jump jet recovery periods), which leaves their evasive ability at a disadvantage compared to the ultimate level of skill in MechWarrior: Decoupling mouse aim from leg movement. Or rather, the key thing is that the process of aiming and hitting is overall a one-sided affair, only means of evasion are by and large best described as pre-emptive, active participation and skillplay between two combatants is limited. These are *always* slow targets, with majority of weapons being more than fast enough or absolutely instantenous (this is probably the thing MW2 does the best out of all of them, since it does NOT have hitscan lasers). The only real disruption comes from being rocked by impact. The skill caps at being able to consistently aim at your chosen target bodypart, which again is not hard (unless we're talking the tiny tiny head hitboxes in MW4) because the target is large and slow and mostly limited to horizontal plane of movement. Similar to this, squad play at advanced level is concentration of fire.

EDIT: I suppose that in short I should say that the tank analogy doesn't work in itself, but I also disagree with it on the basis because it has no inherent value from perspective of designing a good game. Realism is not a part of the process of creating good gameplay, and that's really the point of my critique of MechWarrior as a franchise that I feel it is timid about evolving and improving itself.

This is why it compares negatively to Armored Core, where the sign of a skilled player is that they do not merely know how to aim (a necessity because ammunition limitations are very harsh) but most of all will actively negate vast majority of attacks leveled at them via their own mastery of the controls of their mech but their reaction speed and tactical acumen as well, which also respectively means their aiming skills must be more advanced as well (and the deeper simulation aspects kick in here as well since Armored Core's mech and weapon statistics include things like recoil, muzzle velocity and projectile decay, limb aiming potential, lock-on performance and compatibility, and these are just the stats related to the mech's response to player aiming). The part where MW games have been left behind in evolution can be probably best summed up by the fact that two MechWarriors cannot dance like this: https://youtu.be/mtPY3A3hQ28

(Note that V generation of Armored Core used vertical restrictions on movement as an additional layer of skill, as you can only ascend higher with terrain assisted jumps; you will also notice there is no traditional radar)

PS: Derek Smart games' space fighter impossibly high speeds have absolutely nothing at all to do with how fast mechs move.
 
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Cosmic Bane

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Derek Smart's games have never been rated as highly as Star Control 2 or Ur-Quan Masters. But hey, the man tried his damn hardest, and is an inspiration to everyone who has ever shitposted!


See, now you're mistaking reality with game design to very detrimental effects. See, the BattleMechs simply are NOT a tank platoon because they have hit points. Real tanks do not.

:prosper:

Yes, reality is not the same as game.

Real tanks do not have an armor plating that is withered away with repeated fire that can be measured with a decreasing numerical value,

They do in tank simulators though.

BattleTech or MechWarrior has never handled penetration as a major factor in any fashion as real tanks don't care just for critical hits (or rather, any proper hit IS a critical hit for them),

Totally untrue.

very few mech simulators ever have used penetration as a thing.

Penetration is a made up game concept for wargames, it is not real either. I mean real war games not computer games.

The way armor is handled is a distinct SHOOTER identifier in MW games, as it is in many 'mech simulators, hence their position in a larger more abstract genre as shooters.

MW is nothing like a shooter. It is a simulation. That is how tank simulators the government uses work too.

You don't have to penetrate to kill a tank, what did you smoke before posting?

The main difference between a simulation and a shooter is just detail. MW is very detailed, and it actually uses the detail. In armored core you just whiz around and shoot things. All the detail is frivolous addon that could be removed without changing the mechanics.

Furthermore, one would have to note that an M1 tank or any tank for the matter is not a vertical construct like 'Mechs are, which is a pretty important difference.

That's why they don't call it a tank, it is a FUTURE tank, and also often has jumpjets.


Moreover, MW has always been built to not make ambushes outside of prescripted AI awareness possible because of highly accurate NLOS radar with NLOS detection variation between 400-1000m depending on specifics of the game, ECM Y/N and sensor mode.

Yeah terrain has never mattered in MW. Holy crap I can't facepalm enough. Just reality check your words. We have better tech than that today and still have ambushes :lol:

The only possibility of ambush lies in shutdown,

No.

and even then it literally matters squat because the only way it can work is by poptarting after a spotter (whose existence will sort of tip the other guys off with "oh it's that thing"). The AI naturally doesn't give any fucks about this sort of thing unless it's been specifically made to give a shit about that kind of thing for that particular mission, but I'm talking about the mechanics and not mission design anyway. This anyway is why MekPak 4's plans to gut NLOS radar were such great promise. This is generally compounded by the fact that before MWO every MechWarrior game was made in an era when 3D graphics couldn't really do camouflage particularly well, and the fact these are games involving large vertical combatants. Returning to previous analogy presented, M1 tanks do not have built-in NLOS radar systems among their equipment either,
Wrong. Every imaginable detection equipment is available on the modern battlefield but they would never put it in a fucking tank because it would broadcast its position.

though oddly enough BattleMechs and other sorts of mechs in simulators extremely rarely possess thermal imaging or infrared which is kind of a strange and amusing reversal of the state of affairs.

See, the thing is that a tank is rather well equipped to destroy an equivalent tank. A single solid hit will very likely inflict one of the three categories of kills, weapon, mobility, or total.
Not true.

Furthermore, they do not fight only themselves, there are numerous man-portable specialised weapons that can also with correct application do the same. These are also something that MW games completely ignore, damaging the analogy further, despite canonical purposes of UrbanMech because if memory serves the poor bastard on foot would have the equivalent of a small laser. Simply put, MW does not present a combined arms approach, it's just 'mech on 'mech combat with occasional tank or vehicle who are there generally for relaxation and merriment.

Like every tank game made? Beside syou can do that, the games we have just don't and it would be too cumbersome to deal with ina game.


But returning to actual matter, the issue is that a BattleMech in MW games overall rarely has more than 120kph top speed and usually their ability to turn and maneuver is faced with hard limitations (such as jump jet recovery periods), which leaves their evasive ability at a disadvantage compared to the ultimate level of skill in MechWarrior: Decoupling mouse aim from leg movement.

You are trying to play it like a shooter, but it's not one. Hint: you have 3 other guys then it's probably not a shooter.

Or rather, the key thing is that the process of aiming and hitting is overall a one-sided affair, only means of evasion are by and large best described as pre-emptive, active participation and skillplay between two combatants is limited.

You mean your shooter 'skills' of bunnyhopping around. Like I said go play online and see how long you last playing it like a shooter.

These are *always* slow targets, with majority of weapons being more than fast enough or absolutely instantenous (this is probably the thing MW2 does the best out of all of them, since it does NOT have hitscan lasers). The only real disruption comes from being rocked by impact. The skill caps at being able to consistently aim at your chosen target bodypart, which again is not hard (unless we're talking the tiny tiny head hitboxes in MW4) because the target is large and slow and mostly limited to horizontal plane of movement. Similar to this, squad play at advanced level is concentration of fire.

EDIT: I suppose that in short I should say that the tank analogy doesn't work in itself, but I also disagree with it on the basis because it has no inherent value from perspective of designing a good game. Realism is not a part of the process of creating good gameplay,

Not if you are making a shooter it doesn't. It's not a shooter, and the whole point is detail.

and that's really the point of my critique of MechWarrior as a franchise that I feel it is timid about evolving and improving itself.

This is why it compares negatively to Armored Core,

It doesn't compare to armored core at all because armored core is shitty generic shooter 778327837822378.

where the sign of a skilled player is that they do not merely know how to aim (a necessity because ammunition limitations are very harsh) but most of all will actively negate vast majority of attacks leveled at them via their own mastery of the controls of their mech but their reaction speed and tactical acumen as well, which also respectively means their aiming skills must be more advanced as well (and the deeper simulation aspects kick in here as well since Armored Core's mech and weapon statistics include things like recoil, muzzle velocity and projectile decay, limb aiming potential, lock-on performance and compatibility, and these are just the stats related to the mech's response to player aiming). The part where MW games have been left behind in evolution can be probably best summed up by the fact that two MechWarriors cannot dance like this: https://youtu.be/mtPY3A3hQ28

So you like shooters and never really played mechwarrior except maybe a couple hours like some kotaku shill.

(Note that V generation of Armored Core used vertical restrictions on movement as an additional layer of skill, as you can only ascend higher with terrain assisted jumps; you will also notice there is no traditional radar)

PS: Derek Smart games' space fighter impossibly high speeds have absolutely nothing at all to do with how fast mechs move.

No, but it shows you didn't play that game before judging either.
 

Cael

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Yea exactly the inverse of Derek Smart space fighters, where you have to manually aim the non-hitscan projectile to lead on the other fighter also moving at near-relativistic velocity.

Hence why I call bullshit if anyone claims they actually hit anyone in a dogfight in a Derek Smart game. Any video evidence would be 100% hoaxed, even live demonstration would call for extreme measures to make sure this isn't some con artist psychic deal.

Let me give you an example of the slug. Note that the guy is playing a Defiant, the fastest and most maneuverable ship in the Federation fleet, and one that has the highest possible levels in all officers (which increases ship performance). Combat starts around 2:10 mark.

 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Yea exactly the inverse of Derek Smart space fighters, where you have to manually aim the non-hitscan projectile to lead on the other fighter also moving at near-relativistic velocity.

Hence why I call bullshit if anyone claims they actually hit anyone in a dogfight in a Derek Smart game. Any video evidence would be 100% hoaxed, even live demonstration would call for extreme measures to make sure this isn't some con artist psychic deal.

Let me give you an example of the slug. Note that the guy is playing a Defiant, the fastest and most maneuverable ship in the Federation fleet, and one that has the highest possible levels in all officers (which increases ship performance). Combat starts around 2:10 mark.


One could jokingly argue that they are much faster than in the show because they don't spend a long time just staying still in front of each other while a riveting conversation between captains takes place.
 

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One could jokingly argue that they are much faster than in the show because they don't spend a long time just staying still in front of each other while a riveting conversation between captains takes place.
Don't make me post one of those riveting moments here. "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel."
 

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One could jokingly argue that they are much faster than in the show because they don't spend a long time just staying still in front of each other while a riveting conversation between captains takes place.
Don't make me post one of those riveting moments here. "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel."
Temba, his arms wide.

EDIT: We need to figure out what to call it when you feel intense anxiety from not having jump jets. It's like claustrophobia but it happens with the ground staying under your feet. I have that, I cannot stand making 'mechs without Jump Jets if the option is present, no matter how anemic the jets might be. It makes me feel trapped not having them, and the feeling grows in proportion with increasing tonnage. 100 tons and no jump jets is cold sweat terror.
 
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Cael

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One could jokingly argue that they are much faster than in the show because they don't spend a long time just staying still in front of each other while a riveting conversation between captains takes place.
Don't make me post one of those riveting moments here. "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel."
Temba, his arms wide.

EDIT: We need to figure out what to call it when you feel intense anxiety from not having jump jets. It's like claustrophobia but it happens with the ground staying under your feet. I have that, I cannot stand making 'mechs without Jump Jets if the option is present, no matter how anemic the jets might be. It makes me feel trapped not having them, and the feeling grows in proportion with increasing tonnage. 100 tons and no jump jets is cold sweat terror.
Try terraphobia (no, it is not a real term).
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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One could jokingly argue that they are much faster than in the show because they don't spend a long time just staying still in front of each other while a riveting conversation between captains takes place.
Don't make me post one of those riveting moments here. "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel."
Temba, his arms wide.

EDIT: We need to figure out what to call it when you feel intense anxiety from not having jump jets. It's like claustrophobia but it happens with the ground staying under your feet. I have that, I cannot stand making 'mechs without Jump Jets if the option is present, no matter how anemic the jets might be. It makes me feel trapped not having them, and the feeling grows in proportion with increasing tonnage. 100 tons and no jump jets is cold sweat terror.
Try terraphobia (no, it is not a real term).
No no, that's not quite the thing, ground isn't the problem. It's like agoraphobia, but the fear not being able to reach everywhere.

(I also have a problem of obsessively trying to jump up to the top of biggest buildings in urban maps whenever possible)
 

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Well it's something one can indulge more in single player, not so much when actually fighting. But it's something I MUST indulge!
 

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http://www.pcgamer.com/despite-weak...ing-up-to-be-the-mech-game-ive-always-wanted/

Despite weak AI, MechWarrior 5 is shaping up to be the mech game I've always wanted
Hands-on with the latest build from MechWarrior Online developer Piranha Games.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is deeply obsessed with the fantasy of piloting a giant 100-ton suit of mechanized armor. It doesn't just revel in the blistering thuds as volleys of short-range missiles catch your shoulder, but all the little minutiae that makes MechWarrior a universe you want to submerge yourself in. Each mission kicks off with a lengthy scene as your mech is slowly brought online and prepared for battle. It's a contemplative prelude to the chaos that will erupt the moment I step out from my dropship and onto the battlefield. I love it.

It's that fantasy that draws hundreds of people to Vancouver each year for Piranha Games annual MechCon. It's a celebration of everything mech, with the tabletop game, MechWarrior Online, and sister games like Harebrained Scheme's BattleTech coming together under one roof. While the main event of MechCon is usually the world championship MechWarrior Online tournament, this year Piranha is also showing off a playable demo of MechWarrior 5. It's a significantly more fleshed out build than what I played back in June, and it's a ton of fun.

Rock 'em, sock 'em
When I first laid hands on MW5 this summer, it was mostly to check out a proof of concept build and talk to Piranha Games president Russ Bullock about what the game will one day look like. The demo I'm playing now is much more fully-realized. It's cool to see how closely it resembles that initial vision Bullock had. MechWarrior 5 is shaping up nicely.

Like my first experience with MW5, this version was still primarily focused on combat instead of business management—the other side of the Mercenary coin. My merc company was limited to just one solar system with four different planets to fight on and a single mission type, assassination. I didn't have a lance of AI teammates backing me up either, so it was MechWarrior 5 at its most basic. In spite of that, stomping through forests while weaving through barrages of SRM fire was still exciting.

While the mission type was the same between planets, how I approached that mission changed dramatically depending on MW5's random map generation. While my primary objective was sometimes right next to my drop zone, other times it'd be at the far end of the map, safely behind several secondary outposts looking to pepper me with autocannon fire.

There's a whole lot more than enemy mechs I had to worry about. Manticore and Scorpion tanks were a constant threat while the sky was filled with attack helicopters whittling away my armor whenever they had a clear shot. At any one time, my HUD was littered with targets looking to zap me.

At first I found the addition of combined armored forces to be a bit annoying as they're such small targets to hit and are constantly harassing me. But once I became capable behind the controls, it was fun having so many things to shoot at. Being able to soldier forward while consistently landing difficult shots on small enemies really reinforced the fantasy of being in the cockpit of a formidable war machine.

Of course, it would be a shitty MechWarrior game if the only thing to kill were tiny tanks. My assassination target was always protected by two mechs that would quickly close the distance and engage me. Mech combat is as gripping as ever—especially with MechWarrior 5's stellar audio design. Explosions and gunfire impact with blistering oomph, at once making you feel powerful and extremely vulnerable.

That vulnerability was really driven home once I completed my final objective. Almost immediately, I was warned that reinforcements were arriving to take revenge and I needed to evacuate back to the dropship. As I hurried along, an enemy dropship slowly descended from orbit and unleashed a trio of enemy mechs.

At this point my poor Shadowhawk had already received so much damage that I knew I'd never stand a chance, but as I neared the dropship I felt there was a sliver of hope. At 100 meters away, a laser blast from an enemy light mech destroyed my leg, severely cramping my movement speed. A second later an SRM volley put me out of my misery. Despite losing, it was a thrilling conclusion.

If I have one concern after my time with MechWarrior 5, it's with the enemy AI. Being an early demo build, it's obvious that the AI isn't anywhere close to being the final version we'd expect to see at launch. Attack helicopters, for example, frequently flew into one another and exploded. Enemy mechs would sometimes stand completely still or willingly expose their backs to me. It made it easy enough that, with some careful planning, I was soon able to win that three-on-one escape fight. There's a lot of work left to be done on MechWarrior 5, particularly with the AI, and I'm a little nervous because I feel like the game will live or die by how believable and challenging its combatants are.

I'm still very optimistic, though. With only one 15-minute mission to play, you'd think I'd be bored after half an hour or so, but I ended up playing for almost two hours. The random level generation and weighty combat kept me coming back, even if the enemies were kind of dumb. I can only imagine how alluring MechWarrior 5 will become once the entire business simulation aspect opens up and I have an entire galaxy of (hopefully) smarter opponents to battle and sell my mercenary services to.

http://www.pcgamer.com/mechwarrior-5-mercenaries-is-coming-december-2018-will-have-4-player-co-op/

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is coming December 2018, will have 4-player co op
Return to the Inner Sphere and run your own mercenary company.

During MechCon 2017 in Vancouver, Piranha Games president Russ Bullock took to the stage to announce that MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, the return to a singleplayer sim-like MechWarrior, is coming in December of 2018.

MechWarrior hasn't had a proper singleplayer game for over 15 years, but MW5 marks a return to form. When I visited Piranha Games in the summer, Bullock said that this would be "the same kind of action simulator that people have been wanting for 15 years." Ditching the linear campaign of the main MechWarrior games, Mercenaries will feature a more sim-like campaign where players run their own mercenary company and can explore the Inner Sphere and fight for its Great Houses however they like.

MechWarrior 5 will also have Steam Workshop mod support and 4-player co op. Bullock says that, instead of using AI teammates on a mission, you'll be able to recruit a friend to join your lance.

I had a chance to play the latest build of MechWarrior 5 at MechCon yesterday and really enjoyed my time with it. Despite some weak AI, it's chunky combat feels extremely punchy and fun. Bullock even found me today to say he agrees about the demo's weak AI and assure me it was one of the highest priorities for the team.

You can check out MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries' new website here.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Co-op sounds very nice, I always like me some good co-op in mech games and in this sense MechWarrior is the only one that has sort of delivered (largely in form of the coop mods made for MW4s, particularly the one for Mercs). Mod support is also welcome, if done right it can greatly expand the lifespan of the game.
 

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