(E) Tips & Tricks & Random Thoughts
This section will contain some tips for starters, and random posts I thought to be useful but didn’t fit into the FAQ section.
I’d recommend that you try some free battles
first (those are available as well when there is world sever
maintenance going on which is nice). Play a standard game or death
match or two get use to how your hound handles and to see where it
needs some tuning and you also get used to some of the maps.
You also need this experience to realize how different the multiplayer is from the single player part.
You will encounter some monsters which are
barely able to move but are capable of making mince meat out of your
story mode hound in a salvo or two. This currently seems to be the
trend, as armor & firepower beats speed & firepower. That’s
just the way it is. Where you could take a few hits head-on in single
player, doing this in a war mission will get you killed in no time.
Also the advantage of height is far more obvious as far as aiming goes.
Next start a 1 vs. 1 player map against the
computer to get to know the area. For your first map I’d recommend
winning by time/number of combas captured. That way you can check out
the map relatively easy. Also watch out for the computer controlled
hounds. The enemy HQ will be defended by a tricked out defender who can
already kick your rear if you simply approach it head-on. So be careful.
as mentioned before, don't got into a night map without the necessary vision add on.
if you have weight left on your hound and
don't need the speed, invest in the extra armor plating. it's a great
way to protect your weapons, cockpit and generator. with some tinkering
it's even possible to get it in front of the cockpit.
fighting:
well, so you think you are a hotshot ace
pilot and that you can take it all? well, maybe, more probably you
aren't, so here are a few points.
capture combas.
first, they can also net you a victory if
the time runs out and you own more combas than you enemy. with the npc
you can even sit through the whole 15 min, or what's left thereof after
capturing enough combas, without attacking and win. sometimes the npc
will take the initiative though. there is even an xbox live reward for
winning without attacking i think.
they can also tell you where your enemy is,
so check the map regularly. often enough the enemy will also capture
the combas near your base, so it can also warn you of an attack.
always check your surroundings.
not just for enemies, but also how the
terrain looks like. with lots of high power long range weapons in the
game you can get hit without even knowing that the enemy was there. so
don't make easier on him by always walking out in plain view. use the
terrain for cover. also every hound leaves trails on the ground (hmmm,
except maybe a hover... didn't check that). so with a little bit of
thinking you can get a clue as to where your enemy was and where he
went.
check your sonar.
the npcs normally don't move much unless
they are attacked or start attacking you. so anything really moving is
probably a dangerous enemy player.
use your cam perspectives wisely.
the guncam has a different point of view
than the 3rd person view. sometimes it is sufficient to stick only your
guns out from behind cover to shoot the enemy. loosing a gun is less
painfull than dying (cockpit gone).
there are two perspective in chromehounds.
one is this kind of third person view from behind your mech, where the
picture in picture (short: pip) in the upper right corner displays the
view of the guncam. the other perspective is that those two screens
switch places, so the "main" screen displays the view of your guncamera
and the pip displays the 3rd person view.
now the guncam perspective also has a heads
up display (not just the game menus like radar, weapons and so forth,
but a "real" hud which also displays crosshair or whatever aiming aide
is used for the weapon the guncam is assigned to.
now if you use an artillery weapon (and some
others as well), there is no crosshair displayed in the hud like with a
normal weapon like a machinegun for example, but instead it basically
give you a line at the bottom of your screen/hud that displays how far
you will shoot (i think in meters for the version i have) depending on
the weapon and the angle at which your gun is pointing. the distance
displayed is calculated as if the point of impact of your shells was on
the same level as you.
so if you look through your guncam (actually
this is also display when in 3rd person, just that the numbers are
fairly small in the pip, depending on your screen size) at 0° elevation
of the gun barrel... read, straight ahead, it might tell you something
like "150" at the bottom of your hud. meaning that if you fire from
this position your shells will hit the ground at a distance of 150m on
an equal level. as you raise your guns further into the sky this number
will increase up to the maximum range of the weapon you use.
a note on guncams: in ch you get to have 4
weapongroups, each of them able to hold up to 4 seperate weapons. each
weapongroup has a guncam view, which is defined by the first weapon you
select to be in this group. note that the point of view of the guncam
will be exactly the weapon poisition on your hound. so if you selected
a weapon that is the outermost weapon on your hounds "right arm" as the
guncam weapon for that group, the view of that guncam will also be off
to the right of your central axis of your hound.
also note that nothing keeps you from adding
different weapons to the same firing group and thus to the same guncam.
however if you assign a machine gun to the same group as your artillery
you will have at least one weapon always miss the target unless it's
nearby, as the machingun basically shoots straight all the way and the
cannons have a ballistic trajectory.
which brings us to the next point: aim for the cockpit!
unlike mechwarrior shooting the base will
only slow the enemy hound down, as well as destroying the generator.
they will still be operational/able to shoot back. destroying the
cockpit is the only way to really destroy a hound efficently.
watch out for the npc hounds and gun placement:
while being a nuisance by themself, they DO
damage you, putting you at a disadvantage against your opponent. also
they give away your postition because of their gunfire. however try to
use your allied npc to soften up the enemy by luring him into a postion
where your npc can fire at him. also watch out for enemy npc hounds
when playing 1vs1 versus the computer. they are capable of destroying
you.
dying:
it will happen. get used to it. especially
in a 1vs1 it might simply be a matter of who sees who first. also some
loadouts are better against certain types of hounds than others.
sometimes you will simply die because you chose the wrong loadout.
there is no "perfect" hound. try learn from it and develop different
strategies for differently armed opponents.
I'd like to add one thing I've encountered
yesterday: The Bi - pedal ( normal 2 legged ) chassis has a verry high
acceleration speed hence it will make it a lot easier + faster to move
in a zig zag formation.
Edit: I am talking about the lighter 2 legged version not the heavier one.
This means that you will be able to dodge A
LOT easier with the 2 legged chassis. Running circles around your
enemies + alternating the directions of the way you go while your
circeling your enemy are way faster than on any chassis i've noticed.
On top of that you have complete control of that chassis not like the
hover or 4 wheeled wich goes crazy at some points.
Pop in your Turn boost system and not too
many guns ( 2 machine guns + 2 missile pods ) and you'll be running so
fast around your enemies while they won't even be able to hit you.
there are 6 rts (roletypes), soldier, scout,
defender, heavy gunner, sniper, commander. actually the rts are not
like classes in for example battlefield, you can for example make a
hound that is equally well or ill suited for heavy gunner and commander
and play it as a scout. the rt "gauge" in the garage merely acts as a
bit of advice for what kind of rt the hound you are using might best be
suited for. you can play any hound you want the way you feel it's
right. just with more or less success. although if you are in a more
success oriented squad and play a scout rt as a HG you might get some
heat from your clanmates. :)
(F) FAQS:
could i have a powerful mech, with loads of
firepower but still fit it woth radars and stuff like that? Cause i
wouldn’t mind being able to fight with power but still have all the
features of a tactical commander
short: no
long: depends. it depends on what you
consider powerful and useful. even the lightest radar weights in at
900+ (i guess kilos, doesn't matter though), which is the equivalent to
about 2 lighter guns or a light howitzer i think (depends on what you
pick). so you definately take a hit there. also the radar will have a
high energy consumption, requiring you to pick a heavier generator as
well, thus loosing even more loadout capacity.
however, you can still pack a decent punch. just don't expect to pack as much punch as a similar build without radar would.
so you can either go with a normal weapon
loadout with reduce damage potential in all categories or you can go
for normal damage output in for example close range and forsake some
longrange firepower instead. depends on what you want to do.
note though, that on lighter frames like
hovers, 900 weight is almost a third of the total loadout, severly
limiting your choices. then again, if you pick heavier frames you get
slower and have other disadvantages. for example if you were to build a
hg like hound with a radar you would basically have to leave out on
heavy weapons system due to the weight of the radar and generator.
yes, they only weight about 300something a
unit. they are actually quite excellent for taking down hqs, 8 of them
will destroy an hq in no time. however this leaves you vulnerable for
long range fire. there is no "best" way to do this actually :)
the other option would be to make a defender
style hound with radar, as you will often be busy staring at the map
anyways and giving orders, so defending your hq in between might also
be a good secondary role as well.
Can you go back and replay the sp missions later on?
if you just go through the sp mission
without caring for ranks you will unlock less of the items available
through sp. a ranking only nets you one piece of equipment for example,
while s ranking always gives you 2 (and maybe a paint schematic).
however you are free to go back later on and
replay any mission you have already played again. you can also use a
custom hound using items that you have unlocked in later missions.
however you won't be able to equip your hound with items obtained in
the multiplayer part.
How far can you see things like flares?
flares: i can't give you a simple answer for
this. it depends on weather and conditions. there is a map with a
sandstorm for example where you really have a hard time to see anything
at all. however under normal conditions you can see weaponsfire from
really far away (actually before you even see the hounds), so i guess
you'll be able to see the flare for at least half a map. visibility
might vary though.
(G) Links
http://www.chromehound.com/forums/index.php?autocom=pages&do=show&id=13
this is a list of parts. It’s by no means complete, but it does get updated from time to time, and it’s the best we have so far.
http://www.sega.com/gamesite/chromehounds/leaderboard.php
war progress
http://www.chromehound.com/forums/index.php?autocom=pages&do=show&id=14
single player unlockable parts list.
My plan is so simple an idiot could have thought of it
This posting is provided "as-is" and confers no rights
