RE: Stability defence. Vigilance morale ability removes all of the stability damage you have taken and you still get your full turn, including firing. Vigilance essentially lets you "Brace" and fire in the same round. Vigilance also gives that mech +1 Initiative, so it will get to act sooner in the next round. Speaking of Initiative, manipulating this can be very important. At Tactics 8, your mechwarriors will gain the Master Tactician passive ability, which means that they gain a permanent +1 Initiative. As described above, Vigilance also adds +1 to the initiative of the chosen Mech. Knocking an enemy unit down reduces it's Initiative by -1. Using Precision Strike on an enemy unit also reduces it's Initiative by -1. Using a combination of these, it is more than possible to control the outcome of any battle by carefully planning ahead and manipulating the order in which both your own Mechs and the enemy Mechs act. For instance, you can bring one of your Assault mechs from the Initiative 1 phase into the Initiative phase 3 by combining Ace Pilot and Vigilance. If the enemy have an Elite-piloted heavy mech that acts in the Initiative 3 phase, you can knock it all the way back to Initiative 1 by precision striking and blowing off a leg. -1 for the called shot and -1 for the knockdown means it now acts in Initiative 1 phase, and lets you finish it off with the rest of your Lance before it gets a chance to stand up again. Always acting first is not always the best option, so evaluate the battlefield before making decisions. Sometimes it can be better to Reserve your mechs for later Initiative phases, waiting for the enemy to bring themselves into range before launching your counter-attack. With no enemy mechs left to act that turn, you can act without having to worry about nasty surprises.
I would like to specify that you only get the +1 initiative in Tactics 8, if you pick it as your first level 8 skill. I have seen some confusion on the forums revolving around the order of picking special skills(like Ace Pilot and Master Tactician), which is why I mention this. Good tips though. Controling the initiative and knowing when to go first or last really increases the efficiency of your lance.
Additional info for melee: Currently if you melee attack with a support weapon, you strip two evasive pips. One for the melee attack, and one for the support weapon(s). Might not be intentional/bug.
One of the best early game fire support mechs i have is a Centurion. 1x AC/5 1x LRM 15 1x LRM 10 or 2x LRM 5 4x jump jets It won't have much armor but you won't need it. It has a lot of range and can stay in the back. The jump jets help it get to good firing spots or hide if it's getting target a lot. If everything hits this can knock a enemy mech over in one salvo or at least get it rly close.
Well, you always require 2 instances of stability damage to create a knockdown(first to unsteady, then to fill up the meter), so if you have 2 mechs able to reliably deliver 60-ish stability damage each, you should be golden. Which usually requires some + variants early on, but it is doable.
I am not sure that Unsteady and getting back up after a knockdown reduces movement. As far as I can tell Unsteady removes all evasion and "primes" the mech for knockdown, and that is it. I might be remembering it wrong. Getting back up after a knock down applies an accuracy debuff(-20%), so it is a great way of reducing the firepower coming your way, even if you cant finish off the downed mech. Unless you lose a leg, you shouldnt lose any movement from getting back up.
While that might be true, it does not have an effect on JJs or general combat movement(move and fire). So "in combat"(which is the case when being shot at and becoming Unsteady), Unsteady will almost never have an impact on movement, because there are so few cases in combat where you would want to sprint rather than bracing, bulwarking or move and fire.
Your statement about Unsteady not reducing a mech's movement is factually incorrect. It does remove the ability to use Sprint. Whether you use Sprint in any, some, all, or non of your particular combats has no bearing on the answer.
I also stated that I might be remembering it wrong, which means I accounted for the possibility that there might be situations where it will have an impact. I remembered it as having no impact on combat movement, because it is generally a bad idea to sprint while in combat(it is almost always a waste to do so). As such, clarifying this to new players is important, so that they dont end up thinking they can control engagement ranges simply by making the enemy mech unsteady or knocking them down. The way it was presented in this video, it would reduce enemy movement consistently(as in, every instance of unsteady/knockdown), and that is not the case, which was the part I pointed out. And thanks to this little discussion, this has now been clarified for any new players watching this video and reading this comment. "Unsteady will remove the ability to sprint, but have no impact on regular movement or JJs".
There's a little red button to the left of the health bar on your mech. Click that to eject! Here, check out 28:38 in this video - ua-cam.com/video/uHUufAC0Gb8/v-deo.html
this guide is going to be outdated now with the 1.3 update. bulwark is becoming a totally different skill, boosting the actions that give you the defense boost, not just giving you a straight buff.
I will say ejecting is something that I had to overcome. It has saved a bunch of my little electronic people though
RE: Stability defence.
Vigilance morale ability removes all of the stability damage you have taken and you still get your full turn, including firing.
Vigilance essentially lets you "Brace" and fire in the same round.
Vigilance also gives that mech +1 Initiative, so it will get to act sooner in the next round.
Speaking of Initiative, manipulating this can be very important.
At Tactics 8, your mechwarriors will gain the Master Tactician passive ability, which means that they gain a permanent +1 Initiative.
As described above, Vigilance also adds +1 to the initiative of the chosen Mech.
Knocking an enemy unit down reduces it's Initiative by -1.
Using Precision Strike on an enemy unit also reduces it's Initiative by -1.
Using a combination of these, it is more than possible to control the outcome of any battle by carefully planning ahead and manipulating the order in which both your own Mechs and the enemy Mechs act.
For instance, you can bring one of your Assault mechs from the Initiative 1 phase into the Initiative phase 3 by combining Ace Pilot and Vigilance.
If the enemy have an Elite-piloted heavy mech that acts in the Initiative 3 phase, you can knock it all the way back to Initiative 1 by precision striking and blowing off a leg. -1 for the called shot and -1 for the knockdown means it now acts in Initiative 1 phase, and lets you finish it off with the rest of your Lance before it gets a chance to stand up again.
Always acting first is not always the best option, so evaluate the battlefield before making decisions. Sometimes it can be better to Reserve your mechs for later Initiative phases, waiting for the enemy to bring themselves into range before launching your counter-attack. With no enemy mechs left to act that turn, you can act without having to worry about nasty surprises.
I would like to specify that you only get the +1 initiative in Tactics 8, if you pick it as your first level 8 skill. I have seen some confusion on the forums revolving around the order of picking special skills(like Ace Pilot and Master Tactician), which is why I mention this.
Good tips though. Controling the initiative and knowing when to go first or last really increases the efficiency of your lance.
Quite correct, I should have clarified that you only get Master Tactician at Tactics 8 if you previously chose Sensor Lock at Tactics 5.
YOU CAN EJECT???
*stares at Memorial Wall*
Son of a....
Unless I am miss-remembering, melee removes braced from the enemy. This is very useful against a turtle defense. Also unsteady removes all evasion.
This was mentioned in the 10 essential tips video. ;)
Awesome tip about the dots on where to melee attack, I was wondering how to do that!
I didn't even know ejecting WAS possible. You have earned yourself a subscribe, sir!
Ejection is mentioned in the tutorial scenarios, but I’d forgotten until I watched this video. 3 of my mechwarriors died due to that memory lapse. ☺️
Same in both counts. Ugh.
Additional info for melee: Currently if you melee attack with a support weapon, you strip two evasive pips. One for the melee attack, and one for the support weapon(s). Might not be intentional/bug.
Thanks for the videos! Very helpful
It's nice to here advice from comments is later videos.
One of the best early game fire support mechs i have is a Centurion.
1x AC/5
1x LRM 15
1x LRM 10 or 2x LRM 5
4x jump jets
It won't have much armor but you won't need it. It has a lot of range and can stay in the back.
The jump jets help it get to good firing spots or hide if it's getting target a lot.
If everything hits this can knock a enemy mech over in one salvo or at least get it rly close.
Well, you always require 2 instances of stability damage to create a knockdown(first to unsteady, then to fill up the meter), so if you have 2 mechs able to reliably deliver 60-ish stability damage each, you should be golden. Which usually requires some + variants early on, but it is doable.
These are some great tips and they have massively improved my skills in the campaign.
7:14 I had managed to come across an enemy Stalker and beat him by incapacitating.
I had all 3 salvage but 2 priority slots
Thanks for the tips!
Good vid and good advice
How do you eject
I am not sure that Unsteady and getting back up after a knockdown reduces movement.
As far as I can tell Unsteady removes all evasion and "primes" the mech for knockdown, and that is it. I might be remembering it wrong.
Getting back up after a knock down applies an accuracy debuff(-20%), so it is a great way of reducing the firepower coming your way, even if you cant finish off the downed mech. Unless you lose a leg, you shouldnt lose any movement from getting back up.
Unsteady prevents a mech from using sprint movement, so yes, it does slow a mech down.
While that might be true, it does not have an effect on JJs or general combat movement(move and fire).
So "in combat"(which is the case when being shot at and becoming Unsteady), Unsteady will almost never have an impact on movement, because there are so few cases in combat where you would want to sprint rather than bracing, bulwarking or move and fire.
Your statement about Unsteady not reducing a mech's movement is factually incorrect. It does remove the ability to use Sprint. Whether you use Sprint in any, some, all, or non of your particular combats has no bearing on the answer.
I also stated that I might be remembering it wrong, which means I accounted for the possibility that there might be situations where it will have an impact.
I remembered it as having no impact on combat movement, because it is generally a bad idea to sprint while in combat(it is almost always a waste to do so).
As such, clarifying this to new players is important, so that they dont end up thinking they can control engagement ranges simply by making the enemy mech unsteady or knocking them down.
The way it was presented in this video, it would reduce enemy movement consistently(as in, every instance of unsteady/knockdown), and that is not the case, which was the part I pointed out.
And thanks to this little discussion, this has now been clarified for any new players watching this video and reading this comment.
"Unsteady will remove the ability to sprint, but have no impact on regular movement or JJs".
How do you eject?
There's a little red button to the left of the health bar on your mech. Click that to eject! Here, check out 28:38 in this video - ua-cam.com/video/uHUufAC0Gb8/v-deo.html
Ahh ok
On what skill tree is bullwark?
Guts.
Anyone knows what effect does keeping morale above 50%? It says gives a bonus. Bonus to what?
It's +1 to hit - half an evasion pip
Any status effects (including in this case Inspiration) are shown above the mechs readout on the bottom left of the screen iirc
Oh no, that poor Centurion. D'=
Core punch. Reactor explosion. Win map.
It's hilarious that they would put people inside these machines at all.
👍
Bull-Wark. Not Ball-Wark. 😃
Jason Shamblin Walmart???
Bul-wrk not ball-wark.
outdated info
These are not the ideal tips.
this guide is going to be outdated now with the 1.3 update. bulwark is becoming a totally different skill, boosting the actions that give you the defense boost, not just giving you a straight buff.