Hotshot Tales, Part 5: Barrel Barrage

Hotshot Tales, Part 5: Barrel Barrage

Having previously discussed what the most difficult event in Hotshot Racing is, I'll give you a general overview on the game mode it uses: Barrel Barrage, the fourth and final mode in Single Race (and, unlike the other three, one that was added in the Big Boss DLC pack). It's identical to Arcade Mode, but with one big difference: players can collect barrels for completing sectors (although they can't carry more than two at a time), and use those to attack each other by dropping them onto the track. Once a barrel has been dropped, it will remain where it is for a long period of time, until it despawns or a player's car hits it. And just as in Drive or Explode, cars will receive damage as normal from collisions with each other, as well as walls. 

Unlike in Drive or Explode, however, players cannot be eliminated by any means other than collisions with barrels, and a single barrel will cause 20 damage to any car that hits it, so it will take five direct barrel hits to eliminate a fully intact car. Moreover, you will only receive 10 health for completing a whole lap. Finally, unlike in Drive or Explode, the standard time limits for each class still apply, so you have to be as fast as you are safe (in the sense that you avoid hitting barrels too often. The ultimate objective, however, is still to finish in first place - which is guaranteed to happen if you end up being the last player standing, although even then it's still possible to be eliminated if your car is destroyed before completing the full race distance, since the race will never automatically end if there is only one player remaining - a trait this mode shares with Drive or Explode.

Barrel Barrage is all about speed, survival, and aggression. Here, Marcus (me) and Toshiro are battling for the lead, in cars that are barely holding together after several collisions with barrels. Viktor, Xing, and Alexa have already been eliminated by now - who's next?

To place a barrel on the track, press the Drop Barrel button (which, by default, is the Shift button on the PC port) when you are carrying at least one barrel. There is a brief delay before the barrel is dropped, and it will spawn a short distance behind your car. You can also hold the barrel by holding down the Drop Barrel button, although a held barrel will explode and cause damage to your own vehicle if it is held for too long and not dropped quickly enough. When dropping a barrel, make sure to do so when you are absolutely certain that you can hit someone with it - using the rear view camera helps in this regard. You will be notified onscreen whenever an opponent hits a barrel that you have previously placed, regardless of whether or not it resulted in their elimination. 

As with Drive or Explode, you will receive a message whenever an opponent is eliminated. You can even push opponents into barrels if you get the chance, although you will only be credited for a hit if you were the one who put the barrel there in the first place, and it's also possible (though rare) to hit two opponents with the same barrel. Finally, players are not immune to the effects of their own barrels (and can eliminate themselves if they're careless), and it's even possible for a previously eliminated player to score an afterlife hit or kill by having an opponent hit a barrel they had placed before elimination. The game doesn't keep track of which players scored the most hits or kills, though.

A successful "kill" in Barrel Barrage - Marcus drops a barrel right in Keiko's path, eliminating her from the race after a fierce struggle for the lead.

The fact that Barrel Barrage relies on avoiding obstacles just as much as getting to the next checkpoint within the time limit (thus forcing you to adjust your racing line depending on where the barrels are, as well as the overall condition of your car) makes it the most difficult of all the available game modes, especially when the race distance is set to the full 7 laps (and even more so with certain track/car combinations). However, AI-controlled players don't always understand this, even though they are never subject to the same time limits as human players are. Sometimes, they will lose a lot of time (either by braking too hard or crashing into a wall) just to avoid elimination, and in that case, their only hope of winning is that every other player gets eliminated before they do. However, if you are the last person standing, you won't need to drop any more barrels, and can instead concentrate on surviving for as long as you can without running out of time.

The typical result of  a 7-lap Barrel Barrage - you can be the only car to complete every lap (or at least be the last player left alive), while none of your opponents finish. Then again, I've seen AI opponents pull this off as well...

In short, Barrel Barrage adds an explosive twist to Hotshot Racing, without compromising the core gameplay, and it's a barrel of fun to boot, especially when you play it online. In general, I have found this mode to be more difficult on narrower and/or twistier tracks (such as Surf City) than ones with plenty of wide road sections and/or long straights (such as Alpine Town), but even on these more challenging tracks, it's bound to be a blast.

MechDB Misadventures, Part 3: The Ultimate Zombie Lance?

MechDB Misadventures, Part 3: The Ultimate Zombie Lance?

Having previously determined what the ultimate zombie 'Mech configurations were in MechWarrior Online, I decided to take the idea one step further. What would be the best force composition for a pure zombie 'Mech lance? This time, it didn't take me very long to come up with a suitable answer: at least one quad Large Laser/dual Binary Laser Stalker STK-7D, and at least one quad ER PPC Awesome AWS-8Q, as shown in these MechDB custom loadouts.

Above, from top: Two of my ideas for assault 'Mechs that could be part of a full zombie lance (in which every 'Mech has an all-energy loadout, standard engines, and at least one weapon in the head or center torso, all encased in as much armor as the chassis can carry). The Stalker STK-7D can have all of its side torso-mounted Large Lasers replaced with one each of a Binary Laser Cannon and an additional Medium Laser, if desired. Alternatively, the Stalker can have all of its Medium Lasers upgraded to Pulse variants, with the structure upgraded to Endo Steel, and one ton of armor removed to accommodate this; for the resulting alternate configuration, if one of the Medium Pulse Lasers is downgraded to a Small Pulse Laser, the lost ton of armor can be restored.

While the Awesome bombards its foes with ER PPC fire at long range, the Stalker is meant to engage targets at short to medium range. This should be enough coverage for most range brackets, but I could suggest a few other 'Mechs that could fulfill the same purpose. One of these could be a customized Charger CGR-1A1 armed with six ER Large Lasers for sniping, and a Medium Laser as a backup weapon:

Above: A custom configuration for the Charger CGR-1A1 that turns it into a zombie sniper 'Mech, with six ER Large Lasers, 17 Double Heat Sinks, and a Medium Laser for backup. It's similar to the Challenger custom configuration, but with a 285-rated standard engine to help it keep pace with its lancemates.

For short- to medium-range DPS and the heat capacity to absorb it, a BattleMaster BLR-1Gb (here simulated using the BLR-1S variant, since the -1Gb has not yet been introduced to MWO) could be useful:

This quad Large Pulse Laser BattleMaster BLR-1S may appear undergunned, but with 20 Double Heat Sinks, it can keep pumping out laser barrages for a very long time. If this build were based on the BLR-1Gb (which has not yet been featured in MWO), it would have a medium laser in place of the Inner Sphere Mk1 Targeting Computer, thus turning it into a true zombie 'Mech, but everything else would remain unchanged. For more DPS, upgrading the Large Pulse Lasers to X-Pulse variants could be a viable option, although the resulting build will run hotter.

And there you have it - 330 tons of zombie 'Mechs, in an assault lance that can more than hold its own at most ranges, and is especially effective at medium to long range.

MechDB Misadventures, Part 2: The Ultimate Zombie 'Mech?

MechDB Misadventures, Part 2: The Ultimate Zombie 'Mech?

After countless hours spent in MechDB creating various zombie 'Mech loadouts on many different chassis, I eventually decided to ask myself an important question: What is the ultimate "zombiemech"? In my previous post in this series, I'd already defined the necessary criteria for a zombie 'Mech (all-energy loadout, standard engine, at least one head and/or center torso-mounted weapon, and an armor allocation at or near the maximum mass for a given chassis). It took a few hours of deliberation and fiddling in MechDB, but eventually, I came up with this: the Stalker STK-7D, which I found to be the best compromise between tonnage, armor, speed, and firepower among all BattleMech chassis that can be configured as zombie 'Mechs. It may not have any heat-related or energy weapon quirks, but you won't be needing them anyway with the build I'm about to show you.

According to BattleTech lore, the STK-7D was introduced in 3062 AD for the Federated Suns (House Davion), and by default, it carries 2 ER PPCs, 4 Medium Pulse Lasers, 2 Streak SRM-4 launchers (sharing 1 ton of ammo, located in the right torso and protected by CASE), and 1 Small Laser. In addition to this, it has 18 Double Heat Sinks (including 10 mounted within the engine), an Inner Sphere MkVI Targeting Computer, a 255-rated standard engine, and 13.5 tons of standard armor over a standard internal structure. My custom zombie 'Mech variant, however, has no missile weapons or targeting computer, and instead is armed solely with various lasers, with the spare mass being allocated to a heavier, more powerful standard engine, along with 2 additional heat sinks (20 in all).

It is worth noting that the specific build I'm about to discuss originally had two regular Large Lasers in each side torso; the updated version was not possible until the Binary Laser Cannon was patched in as part of a game update. Before the introduction of the Binary Laser Cannon to MWO, the resulting build would have looked like this:

The original version of my Stalker STK-7D zombie build, built on an Endo-Steel frame (saving 4 tons) clad in 16.0 tons (out of a maximum possible mass of 16.5t) of standard armor, and armed with 4 regular or ER Large Lasers (the former of which are shown here, and are generally preferred for their reduced heat), teamed with 5 ER Medium Lasers, in addition to 20 Double Heat Sinks to help cool it down. A 320-rated engine weighing 29.5 tons (31.5 tons with both heat sink slots filled) provides a maximum cruising speed of 61 km/h. Although 3 ER Medium Lasers in the head and center torso combined doesn't sound like much, it could be enough to win a battle in desperate situations.

This laser vomit build works best with the Heat Gen, Range, Laser Duration, Skeletal Density, Armor Hardening, Cool Run, and Heat Containment skill trees maxed out, along with 1 or 2 cool shots for consumables. You could replace one of the ER Medium Lasers with an Inner Sphere Targeting Computer Mk1 if you want to trade a small amount of firepower for improved accuracy and heat efficiency, and/or downgrade the ER Large Lasers to regular ones for more cooling at the expense of range. If you like, you can build a left- or right-handed version, where one of the arm-mounted heat sinks is transferred to the opposite arm (which now houses three), and the 14 points of armor removed from the arm that now has only one heat sink, instead of 7 from each leg. If armor is not as important, however, you can swap two tons of it (and downgrade to a 300-rated standard engine and standard structure) for a pair of additional double heat sinks.

However, after Binary Laser Cannons were introduced to MWO, I decided to revisit the build, replacing the paired Large Lasers in each side torso with a Binary Laser Cannon and an additional ER Medium Laser each. To accommodate the bulkier setup, I downgraded to a standard structure and 300-rated standard engine (which reduced its speed to 57.2 km/h), but gained a half-ton of armor in return. The resulting build runs hotter, but deals even more damage, which is enough for me to prefer it over the original. Best of all, and most importantly, it's still a zombie 'Mech, which will allow you to fight on until the head, center torso, or both legs are completely destroyed.

The revised version of the Zombie Stalker build shown above, now with dual Binary Laser Cannons complementing 7 ER Medium Lasers, and a 300-rated standard engine in a standard structure encased in 16.5 tons of standard armor. As before, swapping an ER Medium Laser for an IS TC Mk1 is a valid option for those who would rather not have any (as opposed to minimal) ghost heat.

It is possible to swap out 2 Double Heat Sinks and a half-ton of standard armor (14 points), which will allow you to upgrade to an Endo-Steel structure and a 350-rated Light fusion engine. This will increase the 'Mech's top speed to 66.7 km/h, but it will no longer be a true zombie 'Mech due to Inner Sphere Light and Clan XL engines requiring 2 critical slots in each side torso; as such, any 'Mech with either of these engine types will be slowed down if either side torso is blown out, and destroyed altogether if both side torsos fall off (although an Inner Sphere XL engine, which occupies 3 critical slots in each side torso, will immediately shut down if either side torso section is destroyed). Alternatively, downgrading to a 295-rated standard engine and 25 single heat sinks allows for the reinstallation of the Endo-Steel structure, along with an Inner Sphere Mk1 Targeting Computer for good measure.

In short, this dual BLC build for the Stalker STK-7D is a legitimate rival for Clan laser boats when it comes to laser vomit builds, and as an added bonus, it can continue to attack as long as its head, center torso, and both legs stay intact - if only just. Even when its 300-rated Standard engine is replaced with a bulkier 350-rated Light Engine (which necessitates moving one Double Heat Sink from each side torso to the spare engine slots, of which there are now four instead of two) and an Endo-Steel Structure to accommodate it, it's still a major threat to any adversary, and some might even prefer it that way because of its extra speed. Still, if you're really worried about survival, the standard engine zombie build will do just fine in many situations - just don't expect to outrun Inner Sphere heavies in it. And if you want to take the idea even further, you could build a whole lance's worth of zombie 'Mechs - which I'll do in the next installment in this series.

Update (22/505/24): So far, I haven't been able to find a Clan equivalent that comes close - until now, with the introduction of the Bull Shark (which has seven variants in total, although only the BSK-4 and BSK-M "Mako" Hero 'Mech are Clan variants - the other five use the Inner Sphere tech base). Using the Mako as my basis, I came up with this:

The Zombie Mako - a customized loadout of the Bull Shark BSK-M "Mako" (one of two Clan-tech variants of the newly introduced Bull Shark, a 95-ton assault 'Mech) armed with 6 Clan ER Large Lasers (which must be fired in pairs to avoid ghost heat, although you can get away with firing them in groups of 3 if your heat levels are low enough), a Clan Targeting Computer Mk1, a Clan Active Probe, and Clan Laser AMS, making it extremely deadly at long ranges.

With all of its weapons mounted in its torso, this, too, qualifies as a Zombie 'Mech, and with 14.5 tons of Clan Ferro-Fibrous Armor (out of a maximum possible capacity of 15 tons) over a Clan Endo-Steel structure, it's a tough one, too - it may not have the greater firepower of the dual Binary Laser Stalker build, but it's even more accurate (and with longer range to boot), although it runs hotter. At any rate, I'd still prefer the Dual Binary Stalker, but it's great to know that you can "zombify" the Bull Shark (IIC) Mako if you want to.

The Inner Sphere BSK-2 variant can also be configured as a Zombie 'Mech, as follows:

Above and below: Two possible configurations for the Inner Sphere Bull Shark BSK-2 that turn it into a zombie 'Mech. The former lacks jump jets, but has a higher DPS (and a bigger heat reservoir to exploit it); the latter instead focuses on speed and mobility to be an agile close-range brawler (and can even swap one of the Small X-Pulse Lasers in each arm for an additional double heat sink for more cooling, at the cost of some DPS).

Taking the idea further, you could arm the Bull Shark with 12(!) Medium X-Pulse Lasers instead, fired in groups of 6 at a time to avoid ghost heat:

The ultimate high-DPS zombie 'Mech? This customized Bull Shark BSK-2 has a dozen Medium X-Pulse Lasers and 36 standard Heat Sinks to absorb their immense heat output - you could swap a Heat Sink for an Inner Sphere Targeting Computer Mk1 for extra accuracy if you want.

However, as a slow build devoid of jump jets, it will take a while to reach its target, but once there, will tear it apart in a matter of seconds.

Babulon Sees All: Comparing the Eye of Babulon and the Active Probe

Babulon Sees All: Comparing the Eye of Babulon and the Active Probe

In the Infinite Space trilogy, the Eye of Babulon (originally called the Torc of Babulon) is often compared to the Beagle Active Probe (and its Clan counterpart) from BattleTech, due to its ability to reveal cloaked units in battle. However, the Eye's usefulness (aside from being an additional source of income when sold) is generally limited, since the few NPC units that have Plasma Coil Cloakers as standard (Urluquai Deep Hunters, Primordius' Necrodrones) are either only encountered on higher difficulties, or as part of a quest. That said, having the Eye when facing these units in combat is generally advantageous, though not mandatory.

The Eye of Babulon - a fleet commander's best friend when faced with cloaked enemy ships.

Normally, cloaked units are never shown at all on the battlefield map, except at the start of a battle, or when decloaking. However, if you have the Eye of Babulon in your inventory, their locations will be shown throughout the entire duration of the battle or until they are destroyed, whichever comes first - and this effect is applied to your entire fleet, so you can deploy whatever ships you want (or need) against them and gain the benefit. 

Cloaked ships (such as these Urluquai Deep Hunters) are normally never shown on the map during a battle (except when decloaked or before you have deployed any ships in your fleet), but with the Eye of Babulon, their locations will be permanently revealed to you - to get an idea of its effects, imagine the above image, but with permanent orange markers (complete with hull and shield strength indicators) on all four Deep Hunters to indicate the fact that they are part of an NPC-controlled fleet.

This will make it much easier for you to anticipate their movements, although you still can't manually target cloaked units. Even so, instead of using the Eye to blow their cover, you can also fit one of your capital ships with a Plasma Coil Cloaker, and have it decloak to lure the cloaked ships towards it, before attacking them with overwhelming firepower to destroy them - in the case of the giant space station Primordius, the station itself (unlike its expendable Necrodrones, which it deploys in groups of 8 at a time) is never cloaked, nor are its Guardian Satellites, so you can target the station right away and finish it off quickly without having to worry too much about its Necrodrones.

The Eye of Babulon can be useful against Primordius, since it allows you to detect its Necrodrones after they have been launched (in a cloaked state), but given that these are the only ships which have cloaking devices as standard (other than Urluquai Deep Hunters), it's the only other situation where having the Eye is worthwhile.

When combined with skillful tactical and strategic micromanagement, the Eye of Babulon can help turn the tide of a battle in your favor more easily - as long as there are cloaked NPC ships on the map to use it against.

The conclusion to the battle shown above: with the Eye of Babulon in their possession, the crew of the capital ship Damocles annihilated Primordius and its Guardian Satellites, having used the Eye to pinpoint the otherwise undetectable Necrodrones in real time, and thus prepare an effective defense against them.

The basic functionality of the Eye of Babulon brings to mind the Beagle Active Probe (and, by extension, the miniaturized Clan counterpart) from BattleTech (and its adaptations, including MechWarrior Online). This item weighs 1.5 tons and occupies 2 critical slots, whereas the Clan equivalent weighs only 1 ton and requires 1 critical slot. Although the Probe was valued for its ability to penetrate most ECM fields (except for those created by the more advanced Angel ECM Suite), it became lostech during the Succession Wars, only to be rediscovered shortly after the rediscovery of the Helm Memory Core's contents. The Clans, on the other hand, never lost it, and improved on the basic idea to such an extent that it was no longer called a Beagle. ComStar, meanwhile, created a more effective version of the Beagle Active Probe shortly after the Clan Invasion - the resulting Bloodhound Active Probe is even heavier and bulkier than the original Inner Sphere Beagle (2 tons and 3 Critical Slots), but is even more effective at countering stealth systems.

An example of a loadout for a 'Mech fitted with an Active Probe. The 'Mech shown above is a Stone Rhino SR-6; here, the Active Probe helps it penetrate hostile ECM and increases its sensor range.

Active Probes are especially effective when combined with LRM launchers, since they can help lock on to any hostile unit on the map, even when it has shut itself down to avoid detection. 

An LRM boat, such as this Blood Asp, becomes even more effective than usual with an Active Probe fitted.

Note that although MWO's version of the Inner Sphere Beagle Active Probe originally had identical mass and space requirements to its tabletop counterpart, it has since been patched to match the Clan equivalent in both respects (1 ton and 1 critical slot). This has proven to be especially beneficial for faster light and medium 'Mechs that have been configured as scouts, due to their lower tonnage limits.

An example loadout of an Inner Sphere Firestarter armed with a Beagle Active Probe, post-patch - with the reduced mass and space requirements, this item can now be fitted without exceeding the space and/or mass limits for this variant, and mounted in the head to boot, whereas both of these were impossible before the patch.

In short, as situational as it is, the Eye of Babulon can be a handy tool during combat in any Strange Adventures in Infinite Space game (especially Sea of Stars) under the right circumstances, just as the Beagle Active Probe can help MechWarriors detect - and counter - any hidden threats, before they have a chance to inflict damage on friendly forces.

Hotshot Tales, Part 4: Drive or Explode!

Hotshot Tales, Part 4: Drive or Explode!

Among the many game modes available in Hotshot Racing, Drive or Explode is one of the most challenging, as it turns the game into a test of survival. Each player must maintain (or remain above) a set speed for the current sector, and their target increases for every sector completed. As an additional incentive, players will receive 10 health for completing a sector, and 25 health for completing a full lap. Any player that fails to reach the minimum speed threshold for a given sector will gradually lose health; if this is fully depleted, that player is immediately eliminated as their car explodes. In addition, collisions with walls or other players' vehicles will also cause damage, so a fast, clean run is generally desirable (or even vital). Finally, once the leader completes a sector, any other player who fails to do so within a time limit (which decreases with every sector completed) will rapidly receive damage until they are eliminated or successfully complete that sector, whichever comes first.

With that in mind, here's my general advice for this game mode:

• Speed-class cars are generally favored, since they can stay farther above the minimum speed threshold for a given sector. Acceleration-class cars may also be recommended (especially on more technical tracks), since they can reach the target speed more quickly.
• Avoid collisions with walls as much as possible, since it leads to speed and health loss; a heavy collision may even cause your speed to drop below the current target value, causing further damage until you explode or reach the target.
• Taking the fastest line for your chosen vehicle is even more important than in other modes - you need to maintain a consistently high speed for the best chances of survival, and the best way to do so is to drift only when necessary (unless you really need to build up your boost for later use) and avoid losing too much speed when doing so.
• Collisions in which an opponent hits the rear half of your car will cause you to receive 10 damage; conversely, if you hit the rear half of an opponent's vehicle, they will receive 10 damage instead. Sometimes, this may be sufficient to lead to elimination - great when you're causing it, but not so much when you're on the receiving end!
• Tracks with multiple challenging corners in quick succession are often the most difficult to complete at higher speeds - not a problem for the first few sectors, but a potential nightmare in longer races lasting 5 laps or more.
• Avoid falling too far behind the leader - if you take too long to complete a sector after the leader has done so, you will lose health very quickly, which will guarantee your elimination unless you are very close to a checkpoint.
• Always keep at least one boost in reserve for later sectors, where the speed targets are highest - you'll never know when you need to recover from a sudden loss of speed and minimize health loss.
• You can induce an indirect elimination (or bring them close to it) by hitting an opponent's vehicle and causing them to lose so much speed that they cannot recover (or take too long to do so).
• The more laps there are in this mode, the lower the survival rate. It's fairly common for only one player to be left standing after 5-7 laps have been completed, and even that player may not even complete every single lap.
• Related to the above, the target speed for the first sector is only 100 mph, but increases gradually in every subsequent sector, up to a maximum of 277 mph for the final sector of a 7-lap race.

I have generally achieved the best results with Marcus' Speed-class car, the Carbon; as the fastest car in the game in terms of top speed, it is the best choice for Drive or Explode, as long as you can reach that speed soon enough to avoid elimination. On the other hand, cars that don't handle very well when drifting (or are too likely to lose too much speed when doing so) are best avoided considering the faster-paced nature of Drive or Explode compared to other game modes.

Drive or Explode starts out slowly, but ends up being much faster-paced after just a few laps - on tracks with particularly long straights, you can easily exceed 400 mph with boosting if you are travelling fast enough and have survived to around the fifth lap.

In short, Drive or Explode is even more intense than most other modes, not just because you have to be consistently fast enough to survive, but also increasingly precise with your driving line to get to the finish line in one piece, especially if there is still at least one opponent left alive by the time you start the final lap.