Tutorial on Hardsuit Design:
Ok, I started up a new game because of the new version. In this game, I kept Priss and Nene in their default starting locations. I'll be using Linna to fight and Sylia to design the hardsuits. Linna has already gained a level, and I put the skillpoints into evasion and marksmanship. Sylia has also gained a level, and now has three points in hardsuit design, so she can do more than at the start.
*WARNING*The below design is not perfect. In fact, I later decided it did not suit my play style, and changed a few things.
Starting as Sylia, we approach the computer, and select "Design Hardsuits"
Now, we need to select Linna's Hardsuit, as she will do the fighting for me.
I plan on doing more than adding armor, I want to modify the very structure of Linna's Hardsuit. I bought some structure from Heavy Industries, but before adding it, I need to check the modules so I do not take out anything I can not replace.
Whenever I remove structure, the components in that area are stripped out and returned to the pool. As you can see above, the Microcline Computer is in the Endo (inner) torso. It requires skill in both hacking and hardsuit design to install, so I can not touch the Endo Structure. But I intend to make changes to the other parts of Linna's Hardsuit. Here is what we start with:
About the three structures: Steel is the basic structure. It is strong but heavy. Titanium is just as strong as steel, but it is half the weight. Plasteel is lighter than Titanium, but not as strong (less hitpoints). Also, Plasteel does not dissipate heat. I chose to make the head, arms, and Exo Torso titanium, because these areas are typically cramped for space. I use Plasteel for the shoulders, because I do not intend to place anything in the shoulders, and destruction of the shoulders will have no noticable impact on my hardsuit's fighting capability. Basically, I make them lighter because I do not care about them. Plasteel is also slightly cheaper than titanium.
Next, we go to the module screen, althought going to weapons then modules is also ok. Notice all the areas are clear.
I return the radio to the head, add an ECM Local I to the head, and place a Hydrolics II in the Right Arm. The radio is just tradition, it can go anywhere I think. The ECM Local I will make it significantly less likely for boomers to hit the head. Since destruction of the head equals instand death, I thought this was a good thing. The Hydrolic II will make melee attacks more powerful. At the time, I thought it should be in arm that I intended the melee weapon to be placed. I am not sure if that is true.
Next, we go to the weapons. No weapons installed! We MUST fix that.
I decided to add two bolt guns to the left arm, and spikes to the right arm. The advantage of bolt guns and spikes are that they are low-power weapons. However, they all do physical damage. Plasteel armor only takes 10% damage from physical damage, but crumbles quickly under energy damage. So plasteel boomers could be a problem, as we have no way of dealing energy damage, and I do not have enough armor to protect two hardsuits.
Next, we check on armor. No armor! Boomers will destroy us! Time to change that.
I dump all 8 titanium plates I have onto the head. The head is very valuable, and titanium plates are stronger than steel. With the limited steel armor plates I have left, I place 4 on each arm, because I need the arms to effectively fight (I think my hardsuits can kick with working legs, but otherwise I need the arms because that is where the expensive and rare weapons are installed). Legs get 3, because without legs we can not flee enemy boomers if we are losing. Back gets two just in case we get hit there. Three go to the Exo (outer) torso and two to the Endo torso, because the exo torso has to be destroyed before the endo torso armor will take damage. I place a single plate on each shoulder. Why one plate? Because the way armor works, it only is destroyed if damage exceeds the armor strength. Thus, one armor plate has some chance of protecting the structure underneith. Plus, armor and structure can not be damaged in one hit, thus by adding one plate, that is one more turn that the structure will not take damage.
The reason for not using plasteel is simple...I did not have any plasteel plates. If I did, then I could hedge my bets a bit by placing plasteel on one arm. Plasteel takes very little damage from physical attacks, but crumbles under energy attacks. Thus, by putting one arm in plasteel, I can be more certain one arm will survive the battle. But that is probably an idea saved for when weapons are plentiful, which is not the case at the start!
Now to look at the overview of Linna's hardsuit. You can tell she is not losing heat from the plasteel shoulders. But no excess heat is gaining from the physical weapons we installed, so we do not need the shoulders to vent. Important to note also is power. The current power usage is less than the maxium, so the suit can function properly. But with the weapons firing continuously, the suit does use more power than that provided. We'll have to use the capacitor for that, and either offline one boltgun after some rounds of battle, or wait a few rounds to recharge. Why is Field ECM zero? Because Field ECM takes a hardsuit design of five...Maybe later.
After having Linna put on her hardsuit, I learned she could not fire both bolt guns with her current weapon fire scheme. So, I pressed "F" (or "shift" and "f", if you prefer), to access the firing mode menu. It is currently set to only fire the first bolt gun forever, never using the second. BOO!
None of the fire groups allow me to shoot from both slots of the left arm only, so I create a new firing group. I should be able to fire both bolt guns in one round of combat with this new setting.
Just select the newly-made firing group, and press ESC, and we're done!
Now, I have a hardsuit that should function in many roles. Both fast, melee boomers and slow, ranged boomers can be effectively fought with this design.
After using this design on my first boomer encounter, I decided to remove the hydrolic II and the spikes and focus on ranged combat. My technique was to aim for the legs, and keep away once the legs were destroyed. Melee is bad for salvage, as you can not aim your melee attacks, only ranged shots. Salvage is helped by only destroying what you need to destroy in order to get salvage.
To repair your structure, bring the hardsuit back to the silk n dolls, and have Sylia design it. Have her take out the damaged structure, then replace it. Viola, the structure is repaired! Do not do this with the endo torso! Why the old system of the mecha repair looking at the structure did the repairs was removed I will not know. Perhaps that was due to increasing hardsuit repair to two?
Two final questions:
What use is there for excess steel structure?
Will boomers escalate from class a to higher classes?
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