Article Type: Robot Combat
Article Date: July 25, 2001
Airplanes? Who Needs 'Em?
You’re chomping at the bit for a new combat game. IL-2 Sturmovik is in beta testing and the wait is driving you crazy. SSI's Lock On: Modern Air Combat's release date has been moved to 2002. What to do?
Mech Commander 2 (MC 2) allows you to be a simple mercenary in a time when there are just good guys and bad guys. After all, you still want a battle that involves tactics; that is, correct weapons and their application, efficient choice of fighting force, tactical placement of warriors. MC 2 has finally gone gold, and I have to admit it’s a compelling game.
Where Mech Commander I lacked a few features, MC 2 is loaded to the brim. Quick Saves have arrived, plenty of voice instruction, and a graphical world that is tops. Just watching these mechs run around and fire their weapons on the highly detailed terrain maps is involving. The world is well populated with trees and objects that don’t take well to laser and missile fire. This time around the implementation is excellent.
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Meet the Assault Team  |
The Installation
The full installation asks for about 52MB. Huh? I wasn’t sure I believed this. In fact the installation appears to have taken around 90MB of my disk space. In these days of 40GB hard disks, I think I have some .pdf files that are larger than that.
The installation proceeded without a hitch. One surprise was that I didn’t appear to have the option of installing in a directory of my choice. I tried everything I knew to get beyond the default /Program Files/Microsoft Games directory which I was offered so that I could install to my D drive, but no go. If it’s possible to change this default installation path, I don’t know how.
Setup is pretty simple. The game will sense your hardware and then run a video test. When I went into the game configuration screen I found that my graphics options were maxed out, a reasonable decision given my 1 GHz, 384MB machine with GeForce 2 Ultra. I increased the resolution one notch to 1024x768 and 32 bit color.
The level of challenge is likely to be set as Regular by default. That’s where mine was and I left it alone. If you are an experienced mech warrior you can increase the level of challenge by two notches.
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| Fixed Artillery Arriving |
In the beta I found myself replaying the first few missions in order to win. The difficulty appears to have eased somewhat, and I completed the first three missions without any setbacks. The difficulty does increase as you move through the campaign, a good design that eases the learning curve.
Unfortunately, you do need the CD in the drive to play MC 2. On the plus side, I haven’t noticed any disk access, but if you have less than 256MB your mileage may vary.
The Learning Curve
Never fear if you are new to the world of mech combat. The training missions are nicely done, and the interface is streamlined. Hot keys are implemented where they will best help.
If you want more information on the history of the battle and the forces, or on particular weapon systems and equipment, you can access the included BattleTech encyclopedia. Ordered logically into chapters, this is a great resource for the beginner.
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| Sitrep from the Commander |
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| Map and Intel |
The mission briefings will bring you quickly up to speed. The attention to detail in all the interface screens really shows. After watching the video briefing, which sets the feeling / tone of each mission very well as the plot unfolds, you can look at the text briefing and the map. But if you want to see the video briefing again, the system has recorded the broadcast from the Colonel, so you can simply hit the REPLAY button. If that weren’t enough, once you enter the individual missions you get another voice briefing to bring you up to date.
These on-the-spot updates have improved since the beta. In particular, the tactical information has increased. For example, if you have followed the earlier suggestions for the second mission to bring along plenty of long range weapons, the tactical briefing from your operative as you arrive on the field will instruct you as to the best placement for your mechs. You will also be apprised of strategic targets. Destoying fuel tanks or generators as the enemy approaches is a good way to take out a few mechs at a distance.
The manual is best described as brief but functional. Most topics are addressed briefly but clearly, and the manual includes general tactical tips and is salted with gameplay tips as you read through.
If Looks Could Kill
Pathfinding is a strong point, and in the release version I have yet to see any of my mechs get stuck behind a hill or an object. That’s good, because if you have to give an order twice you risk being out of position or even losing a mech.
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| Jogging through the hills. |
Watching these small machines make their way over all kinds of terrain populated with realistic looking buildings, trees and objects is quite an experience. The articulation of each unit is beautifully done. Mechs twist as the waist, move their arms, and even bend at the knees if appropriate. It’s hard to believe these units don’t exist in the real world. The physics of the game is as compelling as that in the latest flight simulations. Mechs almost appear to have weight, an impression that is helped by the footprints they leave behind on the terrain as they travel, or the dust they kick up as they run, or the trees they knock over on occasion.
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| Scratch one enemy. |
Explosions and effects are impressive. You’ll see some very detailed explosions, and you can tell what type of weapon has been fired by the effect as well as by the sound it makes. Particle weapons and lasers differ, as do various kinds of missiles and projectiles. Explosions are nicely lit, as are the mechs and the terrain itself. Careful attention has also been given to shadows and night lighting.
Movement and Game Controls
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| Your Command Interface. Tabs at left include Sensors and Support. At right, the control interface gives you control of your units with the mouse. |
The in-game command interface works very well. Mechs can be selected on screen or via the interface at the bottom. They can be selected individually on screen by simply clicking on them, or as a group by clicking and then dragging a box to include whichever mechs you prefer.
Once selected, an individual or group can be ordered to a new position by simply clicking on a spot on the terrain. Holding down the shift key causes the mechs to run to the new position. Multiple waypoints can be set with a simple mouse click, and they can be shown onscreen by holding down the CTL key.
The right mouse button gives you the ability to alter the perspective. Holding the right button down while rolling the wheel around shifts the players perspective up or down, left or right while the scroll wheel zooms the view in or out.
Your view of the action can be varied with various camera angles that are configurable in advance and then accessible via F2 through F5. I tend to use the standard unlocked view, but when moving greater distances to get to the action I sometimes select an individual mech to track onscreen. You select an individual mech by right clicking on the unit on the Deployment Team bar and the screen then centers on that unit.
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| Center Unit on Screen by Right Click |
TIP: You can pause the game while looking for that lost mech or checking sensor data.
The Multifunction Display (MFD) on the lower left of the screen offers three tabs and a great deal of information. The Tactical Map shows the position of friendly and enemy units, the current camera angle, sensor range, the location of preset objectives, and is a quick access to particular positions on the map. Clicking at any point on the display takes you immediately to that position (though this won’t reveal the nature of particular enemy units that are beyond sensor range).
The second tab on the MFD offers the Support Palette. This display is used to summon support units and airstrikes during a mission. Your ability to access these resources depends on your current resource points. Resources points are determined by your employer and any resources you capture during the mission. If you can’t access a particular resource the icon is dimmed.
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| Support Palette |
Critical support units include fixed artillery, a sensor probe and even a minelayer. Mines can be a nasty surprise for the enemy, though mechs lighter than 35 tons will not trigger a mine. Fixed artillery can’t be relocated once dropped into place, but the power is considerable and you can quickly take out a large attacking force.
The save game interface is much improved over the earlier Mech Commander. Every mission you complete is automatically named and saved for you. This is handy if the mission was great fun; you can always go back later and replay it without ruining your ongoing campaign. You can also choose to do a Quick Save during the mission, or having completed the mission save an ongoing campaign with a name of your choosing.
The Tactical and Strategic Game
I worried about mission flow before I got into the campaign, but needn’t have bothered. The missions flow nicely into one another, with video briefings to begin, and individual pilot records afterwards. Your pilots will be rewarded with medals and promotions, and gain special skills which you will choose when they become regulars.
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| Capturing a Facility |
As you work through each mission you’ll have to decide how to best use your resources, which are always limited. You can pick up some additional resource points by stealing enemy supplies along the way, and even salvage an occasional mech. Salvage and capturing enemy supplies can bring new weapon and mech types into your arsenal, including weapons that are more effective than the ones you can access when you begin the game.
“TIP: It costs the same resource points to salvage a light mech as a heavy, better armed mech. Save your points until you find a mech worth the cost.”
Even these decisions have tactical value. There have been a few occasions when I worried whether I had sufficient firepower to complete a mission. The clock is ticking, so you don’t have endless time to make decisions (unless you pause the game).
But usually I have killed a few good mechs and have enough resource points to call in the salvage team. If I also have enough points to call in the repair vehicle then I have an additional unit to employ in battle, pretty handy when you’re up against tough odds.
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| Pilot Selection |
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| Mech Selection |
Once you’re finished each mission there are other decisions to make. Which mechs and which pilots will you take on the next mission? You can sell mechs you don’t want, and purchase others that might be more useful. But of course, it’s not a matter of limitless resources here either, or infinite ability to transport these huge units. You have a weight limit for transport to each mission, and you have to decide how best to utilize that cargo space.
Before you launch the next mission you can make adjustments to individual units. This is an area that requires a bit of experience, but here again the interface is very well done. Each weapon is described in detail, broken into firing rate, damage power, heat value, and range. What combat fan wouldn’t trade a 13mm machine gun for a 20mm cannon? But again, each mech can only carry so much and has limits according to weight and heat dissipation. Time to add another heat sink!
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| Modify Your Mech |
Tomorrow: More on Tactics Plus Multiplayer and Conclusion
