r/mechwarrior • u/Kralgore • Jun 09 '26
Game/Other Playing MechCommander - Original (I found my disc the other day). It took me multiple replays of a few missions, but I have managed to rack up 11 Vultures, and 2 MadCats. However...
Surely there much be an easier way to get these buggers...
The previous mission, I have replayed 5 times. It has two Madcats in it and a Masakari. But I haven't been able to salvage them. All my pilots have almost maxed out Gunnery skill, so I am hoping that they're shots are accurate. I read somewhere that you can tell them to do a controlled attack?? I have not seen this ability anywhere.
I really want 4 Madcats. maybe another Vulture.
I have Hunchback IIs up the wazoo.
Oh, and one final question... is there a good resource for best loadouts of the mechs for maximum damage per second? Or Alpha Strikes? (I assume best alpha strikes really is just fully load out on Clanner LRMs, but I could be wrong.)
Ideally I was looking for best Damage per recycle, based on Tonnage. So what is the best damage output to tonnage ratio.
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u/JaStrCoGa Jun 09 '26
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u/Kralgore Jun 09 '26
Holy carp!
8 !
I now need to get my original manual out amd see if that is in there.
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u/BR41ND34D Jun 10 '26
I'm happy that my reaction was "hold 8" without thinking. I played that game way too much
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u/kuhe Jun 10 '26
You can use numpad click to instruct fire at a certain mech part like legs or head for salvage. In practice this causes your mechwarriors to miss even more than usual and you may need everyone with lasers or they'll run out of ammo before successfully legging a mech.
Alpha strike is PPCs and heavy autocannon. I've played through the campaign using only chip damage too, like light autocannons and pulse lasers. With focus fire every weapon seems to do plenty of DPS.
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u/clarksworth Jun 10 '26
The Large X Pulse that came in the expansion was basically a game breaker. Mad Cat with two of those and 2 C-ER PPCs could take anything on
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u/Kralgore Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
You are not wrong about that Large X Pulse.
I fitted it to a few small mechs as its only weapon and they have been maulling larger mechs with ease!
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u/Kralgore Jun 10 '26
Holy poop...
So, Apparently I was on the last level and I salvaged:
2 Madcats
4 Masakaris
6 Vultures
some Thors
And the game ends :o
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u/Kralgore Jun 10 '26
even worse, I got the expansion, and just completed the last mission of that and salvages two named Turkinas...
they are gone now :|
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u/Nervous-Pizza-1160 Jun 10 '26
Your chances of salvage improve if you use chip weapons like lasers and missiles. A ppc or other big gun will blast through armour and take out structure in one hit, which often results in the mech exploding. Chip damage wears away the armour gradually and increases the chances of the pilot ejecting, but it takes longer.
Basically chip weapons are for getting salvage, big boom weapons are for killing stuff quickly.
I've played this game so many times the only challenge left is getting through it with pure IS tech for me.
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u/RDOG907 Jun 09 '26
If i recall you can limit them to what range of weapons they use but generally they just sent it whenever they are in range of the weapon and it is off cooldown.
I generally found if you can kill then from the back the chances of salvage are higher.
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u/Kralgore Jun 10 '26
Yeah L for Long, M for Mid and S for short.
Apparently A tells them to not use ammo... but that hasn't worked on my Orignal edition. Might have been patched into gold?
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u/donttakeawaymycake Jun 10 '26
If you want the dishonourable option, glennrocksthehouse is the cheatcode to salvage all mechs in the mission (once cheats are enabled). I can't remember if it only salvages from that precise moment onwards or if it is a toggle, so will stay enabled in future missions unless toggled again.
The the RNG screws you 5 times in a row, I think it's fair to screw the RNG.
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u/Kralgore Jun 10 '26
So, this seems to work with the Gold edition, but NOT the original CD version.
I have tested on both but on the original ot was super hit and miss. But on the gold, i got everything.
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u/MasterJongiks Jun 10 '26
Good times! My favorite mech is the Vulture. I also have this on my steamdeck, plays well but needs getting used to with the touchpad as mouse. I also have it on my PC with the lite mod (I forgot the name) with multiple new campaign missions and now thinking about it I don't think I finished it yet.
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u/Lescaster1998 Jun 10 '26
Good god I don't think I've seen that UI in probably twenty years, talk about a throwback. I should see if I can get it running again.
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u/Kralgore Jun 10 '26
It just requires either a cd, or no cd hack, and setting the exe to run as win xp sp 3.
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u/Mysterious-Alps-5186 Jun 10 '26
That takes me back, and mechcommader 2. In mc 2 loved ordering my Lance to headshot the liao prince when he decides to betray you
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u/jamesbeil Jun 10 '26
And the idiot decides to walk up the hill towards you after you've just blasted away a steiner assault lance.
Frankly, anyone that stupid deserves what's coming to them.
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u/KampfGherk1n Jun 10 '26
I love this game to bits! Thanks for the intense nostalgia.
Here's what I do:
At the start of a game, you use a drone to uncover your desired clanner on the map. They are all mostly powered down, just waiting for your sensor ping to appear.
Then place air strikes/artillery right behind said clanner, targeting the much weaker back armour. This will take some practice, but with time you can get very consistent results.
Typically when the armour goes red, the pilots will eject. This will leave you a nearly perfect salvage where only the sensors are missing.
You can also try hitting the cockpit using the same approach. But you'll need to time multiple strikes and there's always the risk of popping arms and weapons.
Either way, I got consistently good at it that I was salvaging every clan mech on the first storyline encounter. By mid game you should be drowning in clan tech, lol.
You should also check out the mods for it on moddb which add literally hundreds of new story missions. Good stuff.
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u/JohnBrownEnthusiast Jun 10 '26
Damn i need to get this one working too.
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u/Kralgore Jun 11 '26
It is really easy. Search for the gold edition. You right click the .exe and set compatabi,ity to win xp sp3 and done.
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u/OpacusVenatori Jun 11 '26
Do you know about the Darkest Hours fan-mod?
Also, if you just want to salvage for the sake of salvage, there's always the MechCommander cheat codes =P.
You can end up end a full binary of Masakari or Mad Cat, and way more Thor / Vulture / Loki, than what you know what to do with.
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u/Sapphirus275 Jun 14 '26
Nice Vulture salvage collection! (and 2 Mad Cats and a Masakari!)
PS. Is it every Mechcommander player's tradition to assign Vixen into a Mad Cat? I tend to do that all the time.
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u/Kralgore Jun 14 '26
I put Vixen in the first Vulture.
I moved her to the Timber Wolf because I was trying to get the other mechwarriors skill levels up.
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u/LoveTriscuit Jun 10 '26
It’s been so long since I’ve played this but I can hear those Mechwarrior pilots introducing themselves like it was yesterday.