New person seeking tips.

[Snakers]

Here's how my plays have been going. "Episode One: Its one Haiho versus your War Cry and a lancemate! Instant Win!" "Episode 2: Just 2 other mecha now."
"Episode 3: SUPER RAIDER PARTY BATTLESHIP YOU"RE ALL DEAD IN ONE TURN HAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHHA NOW YOU HAVE PERMANENT INJURIES."

i'm sad now.

[Katyusha]

Do random jobs, get better mecha. Youre not supposed to do a straight run between episodes. Also, invest in mecha piloting skill and get good reflexes

Odds are, your mecha is either woefully unprepared for the battle, loaded up badly and thus giving you huge penalties, or a mix of both.

[Snakers]

Whenever I get the rumours for random jobs, the people who are rumored to have jobs lie their ass off and say "Oh, L5LAW isn't hiring right now...."

I have no clue how to read that jumble of letters that makes up the stats. The only thing I gather is higher DC is better.

I had 21 reflexes and 6 mecha piloting and 5 mecha gunnery. *cough*

[Frumple]

Whenever I get the rumours for random jobs, the people who are rumored to have jobs lie their ass off and say "Oh, L5LAW isn't hiring right now...."

I vaguely think some kind of charm/conversation/intimidation roll is involved with that; basically, if they don't like you, they're probably not going to give you the job. Further, the conversation choice you make seems to make a difference; it's been a lot easier for me to get a job when I choose "Just wanna' talk" rather than "Looking for a job" from politicians, ferex. Anyway, just keep trying; check the news to see if something's popped up in a new spinner as well, go check that out.

I have no clue how to read that jumble of letters that makes up the stats. The only thing I gather is higher DC is better.

I think most of that's described somewhere in the help files, honestly. If not there, you could try the wiki. Or I could hand you all the information on a platter*.

I had 21 reflexes and 6 mecha piloting and 5 mecha gunnery. *cough*

You should really be tearing apart anything less than about rep 20-30. Press @ to check your reputation/renown; the higher it is, the harder the enemies being tossed at you, albeit the higher the rewards and stronger the mecha to salvage. Easiest way to drop it is to just walk out of a mission. Anything above 20 is running a pretty good chance of having someone in it that will tear your mech apart, though; I've been dropped in the 20s with piloting 9 and a 0/0 mech, though that was pretty fluke-ish.

There's a whole slew of other various advice rambling around the forum, and I'm terribly sleepy right now, so I won't really go into any depth here, but some random advice:

Keep MV/TR at or above -2. If your mech doesn't go higher, start saving for a new one. Keep an eye out for scatter weapons; fight pirates, get mecha blunderbusses from crossbone burus. Find railguns (DC8, high BV). Don't stop moving when you're fighting if at all possible; the faster you're going, the harder you are to hit. Try using tactics mode (Shift-p) if you want to hold still for a few shots then make sure to keep moving. Get repair. Get repair well over 5. It'll increase the chance of mechs you wreck to not completely wreck, giving you more machines to work with. Find a lancemate; boost his/her piloting exclusively for a while so they'll suck up shots. Maybe play arena mode for a while to get a good handle on combat.

Anyway, try some of that, check around the forum an' the wiki for harder/more voluminous information, come back, ask more questions, we'll see what we can do, aye?

* DC: Damage Class, something along those lines. Rough estimate of damage, the exact formula's probably on the wiki, I dunno. (Re/Pe/Bo): Tells you what stat governs this weapon, reflex/perception/body, maybe others depending on the weapon. RNG: Range. Lower doesn't do much for most weapons (does for some, but forget exactly how. ACC: Accuracy. Obviously, higher is better; it adjusts your gunnery roll when making shots. SPD: Speed/recharge/reload/etc. How fast you can shoot; the higher the number, the more per -time frame- you can use it. BV: Burst Value, the number of shots you can make when you fire. #/#: Ammo Capacity, the number of shots you have left; it can also be EP:#/#, which is Energy points, followed by the amount drained per shot and the maximum storage. If that second number hits 0 and you keep shooting, you'll accumulate overload. VARIOUS WORDS: Weapon types; they adjust the behavior of the weapon. A fairly complete list is hiding on the wiki. ARC: Uh... arc. Firing Arc. The field of fire, from the point your mech is looking going left and right, which the weapon can be aimed at. Comes in 90 (Any limb not an arm or head), 180 (Arms and heads, I think maybe tails), and 360 (Turrets).

The upper stuff is [armor] (ablative health before the part starts screwing up) #DP (raw health) #.#t (Weight, in tons or kilograms) $# (Cost. Barring fudging, also a rough estimate of the item's PV, point value, when can influence combat difficulty; generally, really high means really vicious enemies.) # slots (For engineering. Item/limb must have enough free slots to fit the thing into, barring the innovation talent.

[plllizzz]

Try using tactics mode (Shit-p)

sorry for pointing out the obvious typo, but this one was pretty good

[Frumple]

Try using tactics mode (Shit-p)

sorry for pointing out the obvious typo, but this one was pretty good

Bwargh. First time in a long time I've done that one. S'what I get for posting near comatose, I guess.

[Snakers]

Wow, Frumple. That really helps a LOT. But... Missiles have a DC of 0x10. What's the point of it if its.... ZERO TIMES TEN....

The wiki is immensely confusing and most of it is for GH1, which i'm not sure applies to GH2.The forum is way active enough, anyway...
What does SCATTTER and BRUTAL do? I saw HYPER on some high-expensive mech they were selling, that too.

HOW THE HELL DO PEOPLE EVER GET ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY THOSE THINGS

What do you think is better, energy or ammunition weapons?

How can a weapon be run on PERCEPTION for damage? That's just odd.

What are some good talents? I read around and see some that people think are wastes, like Idealist Blood...

What do you think is the "easiest" character type to play, and more importantly win with? A pure battle-stat maxer? Balanced, with about 10 in everything? But even then I'd need tyo know a talent and a good mech to pick...or even a dude with non-combat stats like charm ego and knowledge.

Why do I ask so many questions!?

[Katyusha]

IIRC, Scatter = Multiple hits that blast the mech at random ala shotgun pellets, Brutal = Rapes armor, Hyper = Hits every single part of the mecha at once for full damage (<3 the Breaker Cannon. Im guessing you saw a Zero Savin at the shop, it's breaker cannon is a wonderful wonderful weapon, and I always try to grab 1 as early as I can).

Money seems hard at first, but after doing a few side missions it piles up. Scavenge weapons from dead enemies (the "," key is used to pick up stuff) and sell em off to the shops. You can get good parts to use for yourself too.

Personally I universally play characters with good reflex and knowledge, and the rest is basically "eh whatever" depending on the style I use for that run through.

Energy or ammo weapons don't matter in the long run as you'll usually get a chance to restock between fights (atm, none of the stuff is time sensitive). Energy weapons are cheaper, but unless you're throwing light nukes around, the cost doesn't matter all that much.

That's about it really. Just do jobs, ask for rumours etc, and salvage the remains of enemy mecha after a battle for selling to shopkeepers. Even a bunch of buruburus can easily net your 20k worth of weapons to sell off.



Oh and idly, on perception for damage, back in the service, there was a saying. "If you can see it, you can shoot it. If you can shoot it, you can hit it. if you can hit it, you can kill it."

[Frumple]

Wow, Frumple. That really helps a LOT. But... Missiles have a DC of 0x10. What's the point of it if its.... ZERO TIMES TEN....

The launcher needs to be reloaded, in that case. All empty mlaunchers have DC0x10.

What does SCATTTER and BRUTAL do? I saw HYPER on some high-expensive mech they were selling, that too.

SCATTER, along with what Katyusha said, is basically a single square BLAST effect. Blast effects are massively harder to dodge than normal shots, which is the major reason a decent scatter weapon is bloody useful early on. It's next to impossible -- there has to be a truly notable skill difference between shooter and target -- to dodge them.

The mecha blunderbuss, about the only SF:2 scatter weapon easily hoardable, is also bloody nice in its own right, for an early weapon. BV2, DC7, BRUTAL, not terribly heavy. It'll shred lighter mecha and strip the blazes out of heavier ones. You also get a good 25 or so shots out of it, which is usually enough for a full battle, maybe two or three. Glitter pistols are the go-to weapon for SF:0 -- just add a barrel extension or gas vents and you're good for most things until you start running into armored/hunter fungus and junk. You can buy flachette (SCATTER typed) ammo for a lot of other weapons too, though they're generally not BRUTAL like the pistol is.

HOW THE HELL DO PEOPLE EVER GET ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY THOSE THINGS

It adds up fast when you start dropping four or five mecha per mission and looting the corpses wrecks, though that takes a higher rep mission than is generally safe early on. The first million is always the hardest, heh.

What do you think is better, energy or ammunition weapons?

Depends on what you've got available and your mecha. Ammo weapons are often going to have more shots if you're in a small mech (a Gaunt, ferex) with a small energy pool. Decent ammo weapons are also a bit much easier to find early on. Beam guns have a bonus to penetration, though; they're going to do more damage on average than an equally stated ammo'd gun. Personally, I tend to keep one, maybe two, energy weapons on my mechs (as backup, more than anything) and do most of my heavy lifting with non-beams.

How can a weapon be run on PERCEPTION for damage? That's just odd.

Damage and accuracy for GH are very closely tied; iirc, both your damage and whether or not you hit the target is largely determined by your gunnery roll, which is what is adjusted by the weapon's governing stat. Whether it's reflex or perception is (usually) based on DC; with smaller weapons you don't need to 'lead' as much, apparently, so it's less pattern recognition (Perception) than twitch skills (reflex). Bigger weapons need more lead, and tend to have longer range anyway. All mlaunchers are perception weapons, iirc.

What are some good talents? I read around and see some that people think are wastes, like Idealist Blood...

It's another one of those 'depends on what you're trying to do' things. Idealist Blood isn't really terrible (It's, what, at least 1.5k XP worth of stats, to say nothing of the newer versions stat progression stuff? You're getting +3 stat gains before the 15k or however much it is XP you'd normally need to get that much), but it is terribly random; it's entirely too possible the stats it boosts aren't going to do anything for you. You can't really go wrong with the piloting talents -- stunt driving, born to fly (if you've got a flight capable mech and you actually, yanno', fly around in combat), sure footed particularly. Tech vulture's nice. Sniper's nice -- if you're using single shot weapons. Innovation's bloody wonderful, but has a massive XP cost involved (getting M.Engineering to 10). Camaraderie's nice once you're in the game a bit and have nabbed a few extra allies/friends. There's other useful ones too, but without a list to sit down and stare at I can't really comment well at this point in time. The in-game help file's entry on talents is bloody outdated/wrong at this point, so take what it tells you with a hefty grain of salt.

What do you think is the "easiest" character type to play, and more importantly win with? A pure battle-stat maxer? Balanced, with about 10 in everything? But even then I'd need tyo know a talent and a good mech to pick...or even a dude with non-combat stats like charm ego and knowledge.

Starting off, you go with Mister H's advice: Basic Mode. Later, you'll pick up on what suits your playing style the most -- I tend toward reflex/speed combat monkeys with a bit of knowledge/charm related stuff, zipping around in up-gunned low MV penalty (read: Small and flimsy) mecha. Others do, yanno', other things. Having a high reflex (15+) is easily the best thing you can do for yourself in general, though, insofar as always-helpful goes. Pretty much everything else is situational, heh.

[plllizzz]

For mecha combat it works pretty well for all builds:

early game:

Run alot, you'll get that rep up later

mid game:

find something with good MV, shoot things till you hit them, run when you have to, get some meatshie... lancemates

(sentient robos are nice bodyguards, btw)

late game:

Get a Zero Savin or Gladius

get another Breaker Cannon

get Ovaknights arm, leg and body armor, Harpy laser and missiles... oh, the ECM and arc thrusters too

put this on the Savin

kill things

[Snakers]

....whats the point of taking a mission if you run

..sentient robos?

wtf is an ovaknight

I never intend to play basic mode because I have an obsession with character customization in RPGs

I noticed if you play as a pirate you can get the blunderbuss buru from the start.

Getting hit for 3 times for 1157 damage on your third mission REALLY sucks. Why couldn't my lancemate finish off that 1 hp haiho? -.- instead we all go to the hospital

[plllizzz]

If you run from a mission, your rep drops

when your rep drops, you get easier missions

you can grind some exp and money by doing this, so you can train before starting to get harder missions

you can build robots [Robotics talent in GH2?] to be your lancemates - they're more useful in personal scale battles tough

an Ovaknights are really late game mecha with some nice downmassed armor

[Francisco Munoz]

1- The difficulty of most missions in the game is controlled by your Renown. Sometimes if your are think that you are going to get your ass kicked is better to run. You will lose Renown as if they beat you but your mecha & you will be in one piece.

2- You can create robots (with the proper skills) and if you are really good at it sometimes you create sentient ones with very good stats and skills. (This is mostly in GH1, GH2 still has them but they are more limited and hard to get).

3- The Ovaknight is very good six legged mecha.

4- Create some basic characters and check what they get, then do the same.

5- Yes, you can get it.
SCATTER split the attack in a group of DC1 (around 10 damage each at mecha scale) attacks, really very hard to dodge. If the target is heavy armoured usually you only will damage its armour.
BRUTAL does double damage to armour, fast way to peel those heavy armoured targets.
HYPER hits all locations of the target at the same time, serious stuff here.

6- Sh*t happens, sometimes inept-goons get lucky rolls and you get your mecha trashed. Wear a sealed armour, improve your dodge skill to be able to auto-jump-out when your machine explode. Repair skills sometimes gets you a change to do emergency repairs and save your mecha after the battle.
Life is hard, just ask those ex-aventurers with cyber-implants.

[Snakers]

whats the most useful non-combat skill ? the skills like science, insight, mysticism, ect.

[Frumple]

The single most useful non-combat skill is probably close-to-indisputably shopping, especially once you get some skill trainers walking around selling their services. More cash = more loot and/or more training. Shopping's also incredibly easy to train via use -- I've gone from 1 to 10 without putting a single XP point into it, without even trying hard.

After that it's kinda' wibbly, I guess. The conversation related ones -- conversation, intimidation (which has combat uses too), taunt (ditto) -- do their thing. The technical stuff -- performance, repair, science, code breaking, etc -- are all generally useful from time to time, some moreso than others. You could go on there, I guess.

The better question, I think, is what isn't useful. That belongs firmly to survival, which is as close to useless as possible at the moment as a skill can get and still be functioning. Mysticism is pretty low key right now, too, along with insight (though insight supposedly opens up some plot related stuff fairly well, I dunno.). I tend to downplay codebreaking pretty hard myself, since you can smash in doors with a sufficiently powerful weapon, but it's got a pretty nice spread of plot related stuff too. Really, other than survival, all of the skills have something useful you can do with them, generally.