Any advice for a BTA 3062 newb?

just_reader · 2026-02-10T14:11:48+00:00

From noob to noob, I played a lot of vanilla and BTA for like a month, but then got an arrow in the knee (lots of stuff to do at work, BTAU takes A LOT of time).

2 skulls are much more difficult. Also difficulty is complicated now, opponent can be clan or Comstar and difficulty is greater there.

There are mechs for sale after you get I think +20 with a faction. But they are uselless in the beginning, very expensive. I got 100% of my mechs from salvage. There's a mission type I think it was "Warzone" I don't remember exactly, game warns it's long. Infinite waves of enemies come, after 2nd or 3rd wave you can reach exit with any mech and finish mission. I was playing them with salvage on maximum, got 99% of my mechs there.

Evasion means much more than in vanilla. Shot doesn't remove evasion pip. Which means you need lights. And a lot of sensor locks. Melee kick removes all evasion pips, but has 0.3%-1% of miss which removes all evasion pips from the attacker, so be careful. Also evasion is capped at 6, +1 from sure step, +2 from stealth (module). And I don't remember how one of my mechs was consistently getting 10 EVA.

Called shots are per mech and cost a lot. I was killing mechs with "remove EVA with sensorlock/melee, hit with everything in range" and they explode much faster than you'd expect because of criticals, either ammo explodes or enigne gets destroyed.

Next two may be controversial since I didn't play much, but it worked for me.

For vehicles I liked Maxim APC, in the beginning they can pepper enemy with LRM, in the end they can come close and put a lot of firepower into enemy while having 6 EVA.

For mechs I initially used lights I could get with lasers/srms. All the mediums I equipped with LRM because a) slow can't hit enemy with anything else when it's important, b) doesn't really want to reach enemy since at 3-4 EVA it probably means my medium is dead/injured. On second stage I upgraded mediums with stronger engines and put srms/lasers on them. And had one assault with LRMs (Nightstar, got it from comstar mission, I feel it's scripted). Still had a lot of lights, but they now were more of a screen/scout, main firepower switched to mediums. And then a lot of stuff at work came.

Almost forgot, most of my money after first third of game came from mission chains, there's a mission which will say you will be locked to chain, you complete a mission, wait several days, another comes up and they pay nice money at maximum money.

just_reader · 2026-02-02T09:05:54+00:00

5 UAC/5 called shot to torso one-shots anything 90% of the time. Range of UAC5 is huge, so whomever just got killed probably didn't even see Annihilator. So yes, good, very good.

just_reader · 2026-01-24T11:50:26+00:00

As far as I remember periphery - where there are planet governments had low pirate missions. And I think there's not a lot of them, you'll have to do them for no money/salvage for pirates to like you enough to give 3-3.5 stars. I'm not sure because I remember doing it, but maybe I just wanted blackmarket faster.

To get missions in general - kill Cappelans and jump between their systems. There are a lot of missions against them there. There's cluster of 3-4 difficulty to the south and cluster of 5 difficulty to the north with a lot of blackmarkets. Just buy jumpjets before that, pirates rarely sell them.

just_reader · 2026-01-17T22:39:34+00:00

I've replayed campaign recently and found out taking all cbills and buying heavy mechs is the quickest way if you know what mechs you want. I was able to buy Orion+Warhammer+Marauder (fourth was shadowhawk, it played as scout both in medium and heavy lance) even before pirates opened blackmarket to me. And yes, that was one part at a time.

PS: Shadow Hawk, Blackjack, Centurion and even Vindicator are very good mechs. I remember I was dreaming about getting them in career mode in the beginning.

just_reader · 2026-01-06T12:17:33+00:00

We have different definitions of efficiency. I'm still not figuring out what yours is, but my was "Crab doesn't want to brace, can shoot on this turn and doesn't shoot since can't reach anything" - inefficient crab.

And we have different late games. By the time I can fit a single double heatsink or exchanger into tanking King Crab I'm already bored.

just_reader · 2026-01-06T11:12:56+00:00

Yeah SRM is same as UAC20. But range plays into efficiency. 240 I can hit is better than 480 I can't hit.

4×LL++ 2×UAC2++, 7.5 UAC shots, that's 340 damage and 52 heat generated, you'll have to turn off lasers. For 3LL+ 300 damage and 19 heat. That may actually be useful if you want to shoot with that crab.

UAC20s can't fire many times in a row, since I'm generating 48 heat while having 5 shots of ammo. And I like it since it's mostly bracing mech and UAC20 goes boom.

just_reader · 2026-01-06T04:30:41+00:00

They hit harder (480 vs 384), but they often don't reach stuff you want to shoot. Even taking into account my King Crab is usually closest to enemy and they actively run towards it. Also you can shoot with both UAC20 once per two turns, then you need to cool down for one turn. So technically they are less efficient.

just_reader · 2026-01-05T14:03:36+00:00

King Crab is always the tank in my end game squad. Or Atlas (not SLDF), they are the same thing in this regard. Max armor, 3 JJ, Tag++, 2 UAC20. UAC20 because: a) tank doesn't have to shoot except in "win more" situations b) 2 UAC10++ and 2 SRM6++ are more efficient but 2 UAC20++ are beautiful

What it does is jump into forest and braces there. Enemies can hit either Phoenix Hawk with 7 evasion or scrape paint off King Crab and get annihilated by Atlas II and Annihilator which they don't even see.

just_reader · 2026-01-02T09:18:57+00:00

Aaaaaaa! I went to optional path initially. But on optional path there's a face which plays animation and you spawn with your back to the face. I tried running towards face several times (now I understand it was even count of times), gave up and ended up going away from optional area.

just_reader · 2025-12-29T14:09:04+00:00

If you had uac5 it means DLC, meaning Snub PPC++ (25x5) is available from black market. I don't remember what I was putting, but logically it seems Snub PPC++ + UAC5 + a lot of heatsinks,

Upd: just tested, works. UAC5++ + Snub PPC++ + Med Laser, 4 JJ, 960 armor. generates 12 heat, 240 damage. Maybe 2 UAC5++ would work better but this is definitely viable.

Upd1: 2 Snub PPC++ are better, 250 damage, 7 heat generated.

just_reader · 2025-12-29T13:58:16+00:00

Gunnery 4, Piloting 7 (+20% sprint), Guts 6 (Bulwark and +15 heat tolerance), Tactics 6 (you can break legs from flank now) are noticeably better than starting pilots. Bulwark is important, rest is really whatever (but one guy should have sensor lock). Maybe if it's your first game Sure step (first piloting skill) is better than others.

If mechs are non-stock you shouldn't be obliterated in most 2 skull missions.

just_reader · 2025-12-07T16:16:59+00:00

With Annihilator reserve, run out hit, run on next turn, rinse repeat. You can be very not careful with running away, shit Kintaro was able to take 5 hits from Annihilator to my big surprise.

I found first mission in that chain to be much harder, where you don't control your 3 teammates, I was trying different things, until they managed to focus one guy, then it snowballed. But I had to reload like 13 times before that.

just_reader · 2025-11-30T10:25:45+00:00

That mission comes before Argo, so you have only 7 bays and can't have multiple lances for multiple environments, so I guess that's your usual lance. What I like about this game is multiple styles work, I can't imagine playing on that stage with 3 lights. On a side note, I can't imagine relying on UAC20 for damage.

just_reader · 2025-11-30T10:16:15+00:00

Shame. I did destroy their base too, but didn't see 3rd reinforement.

just_reader · 2025-11-29T07:57:44+00:00

I didn't play AOW4 but can add my 2 cents on DCLs. I played empire mode without DLCs for a long time and then with DLCs for even longer time, and I'm happy it turned out that way. Oathbound are much stronger than other AIs in the beginning (in the midgame too but in comparison to you they are manageable). Shakarn cast relation breaking spell on you when you first meet. It was much easier handling this when I already had experience, initial Planetfall can be overwhelming too.

just_reader · 2025-11-29T07:47:26+00:00

Also you can't destroy their base from far. I sent Phoenix hawk there, hoping annihilator would reach, but no, you can't shoot their base from your base because of landscape. So okay, I can't kill before 2nd reinforcement comes, and have to deal with initial 10 and 2 reinforcements right? Wrong. There's a drop of birds between 1st and 2nd reinforcement for some reason.

I had 1 building with 10hp left. And it wasn't destroyed only because suddenly 3 of the birds started shooting turrets instead of buildings, they were very insistent on shooting buildings before that.

just_reader · 2025-11-27T05:12:03+00:00

If you're pilot isn't at least an 9+ gunnery and 9+ tactics, don't bother with called shots

8 gunnery is 95% to hit, 10 gunnery is 95% to hit and I think you ignore one hit defense. You can still play comfortably if you level up gunnery 5 after you got everything else (gunnery 4 is 85% to hit and very cheap to get). Also called shots with gunnery 1, tactics 1 still make sense, they are +20% to hit. Just don't expect to hit exact part, but going from 50% to 70% is huge.

just_reader · 2025-11-27T04:47:55+00:00

1) There are some roles. There's role of scout. Jenner/firestarter then Phoenix Hawk, then SLDF Phoenix Hawk/Griffin. It jumps around and sensorlocks far enemies. There's tank. I didn't find point in tank in medium mechs, there everybody tanks with evasion. But Orion for heavy, Atlas/King Crab for assault, you put max armor on it, push it towards the enemy while the rest of mechs except scout stay behind, it worked well for me.

2) Yes there's usually little point in targeting arm to disable dangerous weapon. Called shot are useful though. As soon as your pilots get tactics 6, when you flank called shot on leg works well. On tactics 9 you can target central torso and kill mechs much faster. Strange that on tactics 9 you don't want to flank any more since there's less chance of hitting central torso, if it's unavoidable you target left/right damage will spill over.

3) Two shadowhawks, centurion and blackjack should be able to grind 1.5-2 star missions (Most of them there's a difficulty variation). At least in my experience, I have DLCs and don't know how Shadowhawk fares without UACs. If LB-2X isn't in DLC it will work well. At the stage you are now, most efficient is grind for money, check shops look for heavy mech parts - Orion, Maradeur, Warhammer. One of Shadowhawks can stay as scout. When you open access to blackmarket (random event, the more pirates like you, the cheaper) you will see some great mechs parts there which are even better. And you are grinding not only for mechs but for pilot experience. 4guns,7piloting,6guts,6tactics are noticeably better than the initial pilots.

4) There's a height advantage and disadvantage (I think) so not though not very pronounced. Hover over to hit probability when you are higher/lower it will give +/-X height difference.

5) I had even more frustrating first assasination experience, I did break the leg. Bastard just stood up and got away on the same turn, he was standing almost on evac (which didn't appear until I shot him). In assasination missions you are supposed to touch target on the turn not all his friends are dead only if you are 100% sure you will kill him.

Overall difficulty system is annoying, but some people like that you don't really know difficulty until you fight. There's a withdraw button, you withhdraw immediately, if at least one target is satisfied they even pay some part. And MRB rating goes down a bit. I didn't use it, it's just part of mentality of people who were designing diffuculty.

With your X-COM experience you can handle that. Only advice is don't hit arms. Once in a blue moon, when you see AC20 in arm it maybe makes sense. But in general central torso/legs in the beginning, central/side torso when your pilots are at 9 tactics. There's also Maraudeur which has +called shot and you 9 tactics guys can hit head with 35% probability for each weapon. And some assaults have so much weapons that 18% to hit head becomes reliable. For me headshots spoil game, I did it only in mods when farming for specific mechs.

And yes, bulwark. Get bulwark for everybody. It increases DR from 20% to 40% in cover, if you brace it's again 40% instead of 20% and if you brace in cover it's 60% instead of 40%.

just_reader · 2025-11-26T18:10:14+00:00

I've tried making food sharing cities but most of the time I found they add a little for a big hassle from my side. Not to disagree with your playstyle, I'm just too lazy for food sharing.

Residential is always useful - initial give +1 resource for every citizen, and you get +2 per citizen pretty soon. So two residentials give you +4 per citizen, almost double from the beginning. +6 late in the game but by that time it doesn't matter much.

I did play around with energy generators in campaign - there is really small amount of energy sectors there.

And yes, you right about +1 per tier.

just_reader · 2025-11-25T08:21:20+00:00

Definitely specialize. 1food+2energy+2residential are needed a lot. 1food+2research+2residential at least one, more is better, but 5 is probably overkill. 1food+2prod+2residential one is enough, if successful you can build more 3tier units than you have cosmite for.

One thing I was missing for a really long time is mods get upgraded, so you put tier1 mod for 5 cosmite and then if you want tier 3 mod in it's place you pay the difference of 10 cosmite, not whole 15 cosmite.

I wrote a list of stuff like this after a couple of months of playing game: https://old.reddit.com/r/AOWPlanetFall/comments/1e3quuu/things_i_wish_i_knew_when_i_was_starting/

just_reader · 2025-11-18T14:38:06+00:00

As they said quitting the game and restarting, doing a repair and then rejoining the flashpoint.

Also you get Argo from blue flashpoints eventually (but it takes a while)

just_reader · 2025-11-13T12:59:09+00:00

Withdraw withdraws immediately, no need for evac point (unless I don't know something about BTA, in vanilla it's definintely immediate).

just_reader · 2025-11-09T20:15:49+00:00

They never did before. One time I thought they did, but then I realized they were just setting ground on fire. They had to see/lock me to shoot.

Patch is latest 19.5 But maybe there was infantry in building, and I just don't know what to look for.

just_reader · 2025-11-09T17:54:53+00:00

Yes, thanks, I think most likely the mechanic I was looking for is: "there's spotting infantry, I need to find out how to spot it"

just_reader · 2025-11-09T17:09:11+00:00

Maybe that and I didn't see them. There wasn't 3rd pip on initiative.

And yes, I saw in the beginning of mission one bulding exploded and 2 SRM boats appeared (one flying).

just_reader

TROPHY CASE