Mech F.A.Q. | Core Exiles Community

Core-Exiles doesn't have in game PVP - But we do have Mech Wars! Take your frustrations out in the Mech Zones and raise your Mech Commander Level.
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Mech F.A.Q. | Core Exiles Community

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by Persuader on Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:01 pm

Here's a compilation of some questions and answers myself and a few others have asked a couple times already, and it's not even been a day (at the moment of posting this) into Mech release, so I figured it might help some people.

Q: What are mechs?
A: Consider them mechanical pets you deploy in Mech Town. They will search the area for enemies (other mechs) and attack them (or run, if you have defensive AI).

Q: Can anyone make/use them?
A: Yes. Assembling them takes no skill whatsoever, other than common sense. Crafting the components, however, must be done by a crafter.

Q: What do I need to make them?
A: Read the bot building guide in this forum, or just check the schematics in the CEDR, it's all there.

Q: How do I tell my bot to fight?
A: Go to View Mechs, via the right drop down menu. Select View on the bot you'd like to send to fight, and click the "Enter Combat" button in the following screen. The last step is clicking the sector you wish to deploy in, which will be Alpha for the beginning bots. If you have no mechs to "view", you haven't built one, or you've built one you cannot use (i.e. too high a level).

Q: What next?
A: Go to View Mechs screen or to Mech Town screen, and click View Alpha Sector. This will open a new screen, likely a new tab if you're using a quality browser (one that isn't IE), and will show you some live info on what's going on. There is a refresh timer which is usually just about enough for one or two actions to happen (it refreshes every 10.5 seconds, which is exactly the hole between my bot's actions). If you're impatient, just click "View Alpha" again, and you'll refresh it manually. If you successfully deployed your bot, it will now begin searching for enemies. You'll see it scanning around and moving from block to block, and as soon as it detects a foe it will approach into firing range and rain hell on them. You can follow the battle's progress by sticking around and looking at the screen. If your bot dies, it's destroyed. If it wins, the enemy is destroyed, and you are given some Mech Points and a bit of credits through the in-game mail.

Q: Can I recall my mech during combat to avoid death?
A: No. The recall button has a timeout of 60 seconds after combat, so you'll have to wait the full minute after combat is finished to remove it.

Q: What happens when I lose a fight?
A: You bot is destroyed completely, and you have to make another one. You'll get a partial refund from the scrap metal collected and you will lose the Mech Points your bot had accumulated.

Q: What are Mech Points and how do they work?
A: For every victory you get a certain number of points assigned to your mech (default value + a part of your enemy's points). These can be seen in the "View Mechs" screen accessible via the right drop-down menu. More points are needed to climb the Stats screen, and to enter higher level combat sectors with stronger bots. Keeping your bots alive is the best way to preserve your points - if you have enough points to enter Sector Beta, and the loss of a bot drops you below the amount needed to enter it, you will need to win the points back if you want to fight there again.

Q: What are Victory points?
A: Victory points are awarded to you after victory, just like mech points. You do not lose victory points after you lose a mech you've won them with. You will be able to spend your victory points for in-game rewards through an NPC once that NPC is added.

Q: How do I know which weapon/armor/chassis/AI to choose?
A: Read and think. If you know your enemy and their stats, it'll be easier to choose the weapon type to beat them. Look at various pros and cons and weigh them out. Ultimately, you can just have fun and try it out to see what works best for you. The only thing to keep in mind is not crossing the Mass limit on your bot (that's how much it can carry) and not overshooting the HP as it might stop you from being able to enter the low combat area. Please note that you can take your bot apart at any time without any penalties, so it's yours for the experimenting as long as it's alive.

Q: How do I know how much HP armor will give me, and how much Mass each component weighs?
A: You'll have to build them to find out, unless you know someone who's already done it all and is willing share the information.

Q: Can mech parts be purchased in shops, or are they only player made?
A: Only player made.

Q: Do Premium Accounts get any kind of advantage in Mech Combat?
A: So far, no.

Q: What happens in dual kill scenarios? (when bots kill each other)
A: Both bots are destroyed, and their points are lost. Both owners get both a loss and a win mail, meaning a bit of extra cash, and both owners get their kill count up by 1.

Q: How do I know what each of the stats on the mech components does?
A: Here's a little breakdown:
- HP is quite obvious, when it's reduced to 0, your bot is dead. You can follow the HP during battle by refreshing your "View Mechs" screen.
- Maximum Payload Mass is the maximum amount of mass a bot can wear. Every item you equip has a mass, and the total sum must not exceed the Maximum number. To know the Mass of specific items, see above.
- HP Resistance - resistance to certain types of damage. When more armor comes, tactics will be needed to modify your armor according to the enemy you're facing and their weapon.
- Standard Speed - the speed of the bot when it's wearing NOTHING. This determines how fast it will move, shoot and evade shots. The higher your mass, the lower the speed will be.
- Scan range passive/active - while looking around for enemies, your bot will use active scanners. When another mech is in the range of Active scanners, your bot will begin. Passive scanner function is yet to be discovered.
- Accuracy - a weapon stat, determines how precise your shots will be.

Q: I read the Jumper AI description, but what does it actually do?
A: The jumper AI will, if you have a bot chassis with jump engines, attempt to run from battle when it's HP becomes less than 50% of the enemy. An example: If my bot has 200 HP left, and the enemy has 250, the fight will go on. But if the enemy hits me for 150, and I him for some 80 damage, I will have 50 HP, and he will have 170. 50 is less than 50% of 170, and thus the jumper bot will ATTEMPT to run. That does not mean it will succeed, it means there is only a chance your investment will be preserved.

Q: I still don't get it, all the points, winning, losing... how do you progress?
A: Ok, breakdown of everything progress related.
After you win a fight, the winning BOT gets assigned Mech points. He will be given 10 points by default, and 50% of what the enemy had. If the enemy had 0, he will only get 10 points. So, the MECH keeps the points.
Also, you will be given the same amount of Victory Points, and one kill count +.
To get to Commander level 2, you need 20 kills. To enter BRAVO sector, you need a TOTAL of MECH points over 100, meaning ALL your living bots must have a TOTAL of 100 points at least. If a bot with ANY number of points dies, those points VANISH, and your total is decreased, naturally. So you can be banned from an area until you re-earn the points. The VICTORY POINTS remain with you forever, as does your kill count, so you cannot de-level.

Q: How many mechs can I have?
A: You can have 3 mechs at level 1. Only one may be in combat at any given time. You may have as many spare parts as you wish, though.

Q: Do I need to [manage / repair / refuel / send to battle] my mech from Grelia, or can I do it from wherever I am?
A: All you need to do in Grelia is Assembly. Once that's done, EVERYTHING else can be done remotely, even refueling.

Q: Refueling? Do bots use fuel???? OMG!
A: Bots that have the Jumper AI, and Jump engines can escape combat (see above). One attempt will spend 1 fuel unit on your bot, but you refuel it at a 20:1 ratio. So to refuel a bot who wasted one escape attempt, you need 20 fuel, and his possible escapes count will go up by 1. The number of jumps a bot can perform, and the distance they jump, depends on the Chassis you're using.

Q: So once I get 20 kills and become level 2, what happens then?
A:
a) You can have 2 bots in a combat zone at once. They won't fight each other, they will wave to each other. And yes, it is possible for them to team up on one enemy if they all meet in the same block.
b) You can have a maximum total of 5 constructed mechs as opposed to 3 while you were level 1.
c) You can use an extremely fast chassis - the Light-Foot.


by ShadowSword on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:53 pm
Q: Is there some way to see the countdown of how long left to repair a mech?
A:
by Persuader on Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:56 pm
Click the band aid icon again.
by Geistware on Thu Aug 28, 2008 4:00 am
If you need to refuel your jump engines the same thing applies.

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