MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries A strategic approach to MW5

Mods - Don't Leave Home Without Them

I am not going to repeat the great list of recommended mods others have complied here.

I am just going to say, if you want your play through to more fun mod-up. Get the YAML stuff and all the game balance mods because you want better mechs and weapons, pilots, AI, whatever. The vanilla game basically sucks, and I got mods really early and restarted.

Don't waste your time playing vanilla for a 'pure' experience, just get mods.

If you don't use mods then my guide will be less valuable for you.

What To Do Early

**Warning** - If you are using YAML check in the YAML settings and make sure tank armour is reset to the vanilla level of 1, not 3, or you will die.

Try out auto centering which means your arms will always try to get back to centre when you move. You will either love it or hate. The important thing is choose early and get familiar with running your Mech with it on or off for the rest of the game.

You start the campaign with one or two light Mechs and a busted up Centurion.

You have two choices with the available Mechs:

1. Play the first few missions with a light Mech

2. Sit around and wait 50 days for the Centurion to be fixed

Assuming you choose to go with the light Mech - refit it immediately.

Choose the Mech than can carry the most armour.

The most common advice online is:

Remove one jump jet

Max armour - especially on the front

If needed, shave some off the legs (because the AI does not target legs well)

Weapons - up to you - but I went with 4 x M laser

Weapon groups - group 1: 2 lasers, group 2: 2 laser Why? Because you can cycle the groups and not get caught without a weapon ready to go while they recycle. You can still do a 1,2 alpha for the kill.

As soon as you can, refit your Centurion

Keep the A/C 10

Make sure you have an LRM 10 and 2 x M laser

Learn to punch - I have a programmable 8 button mouse - put punch on a button and use it.Why? Because you need the LRM 10 to target and kill flyers and to sandpaper Mechs at a distance. The A/C 10 is your big hit. The M lasers are your shot in between while the A/C 10 recycles. Unload an alpha into the legs to slow them down and punch their lights out.

That should get you through the first few missions, then get a second or third pilot ASAP. You need to run as many Mechs as you can as soon as you can. Better to run with one or two extra Mechs instead of maximising your number 1 Mech too early. More buddies on the ground is 3 to 6 more weapons shooting the enemy, and it also stops everyone shooting at you all the time. Also, don't just charge up to everyone and pound them in the face. You will just attract every Mech within shooting distance onto on you like flies. Snipe a single Mech and draw it into your kill zone, don't run into theirs.

Salvage And Getting Better Stuff

Getting better Mechs is all about Salvage and C-bills

Take advantage of the Valentina spoiler to accelerate your game if you want a faster start.

Have a salvage plan There are two types of salvage:

Stuff you will use

Stuff you will sell

Stuff you will use 1. Make a shopping list - keep it on a piece of paper next to your PC

Use Slavage V2 and set the salvage piece low enough for your needs - I use 3 pieces per Mech

Know what you want to salvage and why and what is most important to you. Get to know your Mechs. Decide what you need next for your lance. Do you want a long range sniper, or a fast short range brawler? Do you want a Cicada A or B, Or BJ-1 or BJ-1X? Remember, you need to choose well right from the start. Some Mech variants are rare and you may only ever see 3, so choose wisely. That is why you need a shopping list you can see while in the salvage choice screen.

2. Use and manage weapon upgrades

Weapons are upgraded by destroying lower tiers to build the next higher tier. The sweet spot for weapon upgrades is about Tier 3. The number of weapons to move up from tier zero to 1 to 2, then tier 3 is not too bad and the C-bill cost is not terrible. Focus on the cheaper, common weapons usable by lots of your Mechs. M laser, L laser, machine guns, LRM 10, PPC and A/C 2 are the best and most effective. You can accelerate the process by buying medium tiers at the shop for a reasonable price. A/C 5 and A/C 10 are hard to get above tier 2 and really expensive and the online wisdom is these weapons are not damage effective for the weight cost. Go for 4 x A/C 2 instead of 2 x A/C 5. Faster damage rate over time (DPS). Look it up online.

3. Engines - a powerful game changer

Over the course of the game you will need engines. An newly assembled salvage Mech might have no engine, you need to supply one. You might want to upgrade or downgrade an engine in an existing Mech. Know the engine break points - look at the weight, how many additional heat sinks are needed - what speed they give you in the Mech you want to put it in. The optimum speed is around 65+ 250 is better than 245, because it has the required 10 heat sinks, not 9, and therefore more weight effective.

4. Chase down Hero mechs ASAP

Hero Mechs are sold in industrial hubs (the planets connected by dotted lines), or you can get a free one with some missions. Save your C-bills and buy one, they are game changers. They are faster, harder to kill and have good weapons. Buy one to strip it and swap gear into another Mech. They have gear like double heat sink kits that you can't buy any other way early in the game.

Stuff you will sell Selling trash Mechs is your path to being a C-bill millionaire. Go for as many cheap low salvage value Mechs as you can get enough to make your salvage count, assemble and sell them. Strip stuff you need like weapons or engines before you sell them.

Managing Your Mechs - Building An Effective Lance

What goes into fielding an effective Mech lance?

1. Your personal Mech

You need to make a play style choice here. How do you like to or want to play YOUR Mech?

Do you want to be a brawler and fight right up in the face of the enemy? Do you want to be a mid range generalist, or a long range sniper?

This choice also feeds into your weapons upgrade strategy. It really begins to make a big difference to have all tier 3 weapons vs zero or tier 1 weapons.

For example:

I choose to play a brawler because so many enemy Mechs target you above your lance mates, so I need to kill them quickly. See my battle tactic section later on. Be careful if you play too many LRMs. Enemies get up in your face and you have no weapons to fire because they got inside minimum range and you die.

I was really lucky and got the Hero Treb early. I refit it with a smaller engine, double heat sink kit, SRM6 x4, ML x2 for a 70+ alpha strike. This fit-out really murders lights and mediums mid game.

Charger 1A1 - (don't laugh). This is probably the first assault Mech you will salvage, and everyone hates it. I love it. My build is based on filling all 7 energy slots and it is a brute early to mid game. Downgrade the engine to a 325 core to free up tonnage and move at 65 km/h. Max the armour and put ML x 7. Try it. Early in the game it has so much armour vs the OpFor it is hard to kill and one alpha can take out one leg. The MLs recycle quickly so can you take out the other leg for a dead Mech. Upgrade to LL x2 or PPCs when you can get better heat management.

My Mid game fav is the Banshee 3P with 9 energy slots. I now have ER LL x 3 and ML x 6 for an 80 alpha strike with a huge amount of armour at medium speed.

2. Dumb AI buddies Mechs

You need to focus. Do one thing well per Mech. Really early in the game I focus on energy builds, mostly ML with the odd LL. Jenner, Phoenix Hawk, Javelin. Easy to get from salvage, have simple but effective weapons and can be repaired / replaced pretty easily in the early game.

Then look for Blackjacks and Centurions. These can be salvaged pretty early on. I ran with two Centurions and a Blackjack for ages. One had an energy fit-out, the other ballistics. The third Mech was mixed support. Either LL plus a single LRM to take out flyers or AC2s and one LRM for long range support. Read all the guides about managing buddies. Fit-out can make a difference to how they behave. Don't mix too much long and short range in the same Mech, they get confused.

Mid game go for a Rifleman and a Jager. Make one a ballistics specialist with A/C2s and MLs, and the other PPC or LL plus MLs. The third Mech can be the Hero Wolverine 2 or eventually an Orion or Marauder.

Keep about six Mechs in your bay. You will need to swap them in and out to manage tonnage limits. You will need to mix between 200, 230 and then 270 for quite a while.

Missions

How do I prepare for a mission so I have negotiated correctly?

1. Assess the mission

Essentially there are a limited number of missions

Kill the targets

Destroy the base - consider airstrike

Defend the base

Go to all the locations and find stuff

Beach head - satellite dishes, artillery and Mechs - consider airstrike

Multi turn missions

2. What do I need to negotiate for this mission? Early on, when your lance is weaker - take damage insurance

Destroy the base - take airstrike

Beach head - take airstrike

Go to all the locations and find stuff - go salvage or money

Kill the targets - go salvage or money

Defend the base - go salvage or money

3. What do I need most right now? Do I need more money

Do I need more salvage - if I take extra salvage I can run over the tonnage limit for a really tough mission and balance out the over ton penalty

Multi turn missionsThese are where you can make the most money. Use the mission assessment ideas above and decide what you think you need. Remember you only negotiate once, so think about mission 2 and 3 up front.

Special things to note:

The extra payout is for all three missions - this can mean earning 3 x the money - so go big

You can't repair Mechs between missions - but you can swap for another fresh Mech without any damage

Swapping a Mech that is too damaged to continue - I discovered it by accident and here is how to exploit it.

In between each mission check the armour loss in each Mech to decide if you need to swap it. This allows you to make up for bad luck it one Mech go pounded. It allows you to deliberately get one Mech pounded as a damage sponge in one mission to preserve your other Mechs for later missions and swap the sponge out. Over the course of three missions you will have spread the damage across 6 Mechs, not 4 and without any single Mech losing an arm or leg. You can take damage insurance to pay for this and maximise your earnings.

Battle Tactics

So many people ask: How do I fight so I don't die or get smashed up?

If you have spent time managing your lance correctly you will have an advantage over the enemy. Your objective is to build Mechs that outclass the enemy in every way for their weight class. You should aim to have the best balance between speed, firepower and heat.

The problem early in the game is that learning how to fight is difficult. This is a hard game to learn, so give yourself a break and save often, and don't be scared to restart a mission if it all goes to crap.

How to stop getting my Mechs smashed up Don't just charge up to the objectives - you will get ambushed

Don't get isolated away from your lance - you will get surrounded

Don't get your lance caught in open ground surrounded by enemies - use terrain cover

Draw the enemy into your kill box, don't walk into theirs

Learn what or who to destroy first

Speed is important..........and sometimes it is not

Walking towards the objectiveOn your way to an objective you will get attacked by harasser forces. These are random or placed at likely approaches to wear you down before you get there. They will be flyers, pop-up turrets, tanks and Mechs. Keep you eyes and ears open and watch your tac display for the red dots to show up. Minimise their impact by hitting them hard and fast.

Flyers: your best defence is LL x 2 - this will kill most VTOLs at range. Igors are much tougher.

Turrets: pop up close to you - ML x 2 or 4 will kill most of them

Tanks: LRM from a distance (if you are lucky) - Chase them down, laser them to death or run over them and they get stomped.

Mechs: They might be only one or two so surround and kill

At the objectiveYour basic objective is to break up massed forces into smaller waves and pick them apart on your terms, not theirs.

As you get near the objective you will cross a threshold or trigger point that will make the AI do something. Hidden enemies such as Mechs, flyers or tanks will spawn or artillery will start to fire. Be prepared and don't just blunder into traps. Look at the terrain around the objective and look for the approach with the most cover. It is better to walk 1000m around the back than walk in the front and get murdered.

Have a fall back point. For example, there are a lot of objectives 'just over the ridge' from where you are. When you crest the ridge, bam!, 4 Mechs spawn and unload on your lance. Slow down or stop just below the ridge and creep up to the edge and pop your head over - the second they spawn punch it into reverse and disappear back over the ridge. If you are on flat ground stay behind a hill, run out towards the objective to spawn the enemy then run away back behind the hill. Have a second hill or valley to run to if they all come for you at once.

Now you know where the enemy is and what Mechs you are facing. Use your target key to identify enemies. You are in cover and can plan your attack. Wait. A group of flyers or tanks will charge you and you can handle them in isolation from the enemy Mechs. Often a light or medium Mech will break from the group and chase you . Perfect - it will run into your kill box and you can 4 on 1 or 4 on 2 kill it without facing fire from their big buddies still behind the ridge or hill. My fave tactic for tanks is to sit just below a ridge line and wait for them to cross over the top and melt them before they even get a shot at me. You can pop a UAV so LRMs can see and lock on from cover.

Don't be scared to run away. Some maps and objectives are designed to punish you unfairly. Just run away and refuse to fight on their prepared ground. Learn to fight in reverse!

Enemy Mech behaviourThere are basically three types - brawlers that just charge you - guys that stand their ground - snipers / retrograde LRM boats

Chargers - they want to punch you or AC 20 you in the guts - fight them in reverse and target their legs to stop them closing to melee range - jump if it helps you evade melee - then take out the other leg - e.g. Centurions, Hunchbacks, Orions

Standing their ground - run full speed left or right across their front and don't get too close - speed ruins their aim - circle them either taking out legs or arms to slow and weaken them e.g. big Mechs like Marauder, Banshee, Cataphract

Snipers - charge them full speed - throw in some random left or right dodges to put their aim off as you close the distance - go for the legs to stop them backing away from you e.g. Blackjack, Rifleman, Jager, Catapult

Artillery and satellite dishesThis is a special case.

I almost always charge the artillery and take it out asap. You need a Mech speed of above 60, 70. 80 is really good for this. Look for the red marked location on your heads up display and remember, coz they often disappear. If in doubt, check the corners of the map. This is where they often hide.

You will eventually learn how to avoid incoming artillery. Go max speed and dodge hard left or right, sometime you will need to slam on the brakes then run again. Do not worry about your lance being hit, they will be too slow and out of the hit zone as you get ahead of them.

Next, do not go to the central base. Talk out all the satellite dishes near the edges and save the big one at the base until last. This will call in the support allies. Then mop up.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3238126124

A strategic approach to MW5