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[beorn080]

Yes, mostly. Good charm/ego, one or the other, and a rank of converstation/intimidation, again either or based on charm or ego. Ego + intimidation is potent, you'll see pilots ejecting rather then keep getting shot at. You'll want a point or two of ranged combat though, since its a VERY good chance that you'll need to do some non mech work during the story.

At that point, you'll ideally be using the SMRT Rocket Rifle, which is a fairly heavy weapon but extraordinarily lethal. High range, high speed, high damage, high acc, large assortment of ammo, including smoke. Its one of the few personal weapons that could work mounted on a mech.

[Tnx]

Hmm.  Any suggestions on what a good starting talent would be? Would stunt driving or jack of all trades be good?

[beorn080]

Stunt driving is excellent. Double rolling for dodge checks at full speed means you can dodge almost anything if your moving fast.

Edit: Picked up a flamethrower from a rival. DC10, 32 range, +1 acc, Burn, Line, 60 shots a clip. Line weapons in mecha scale combat are NASTY.

[3]

Yeah, I've managed to find a Dragon Cannon two characters in a row now, and I always end up mounting it. It's especially good for getting rid of Gaunts and other flying irritants.

[Krath]

On my latest character, the main enemy of the story is the Aegis Defense Force, and I've also pissed off the Rishiri Dominion. I happily engaged a Rishiri patrol to prove my awesomeness, but their leader was driving an Ultimate Salamander Savin, with a BADASS Flare Cannon mounted on it's head. Meanwhile, me and my partner with both driving Star Chameleons (With mine having a Heavy Gauss Cannon).

The fight lasted for a long time, but my lancemate luckily ejected when she got shot down. Later on, it was just me vs the Savin and an Ice Wind. I fired off a barrage of missiles towards the Savin, and by some stroke of luck, it killed the pilot without destroying the Savin.

So now I'm riding in a tricked out Savin at 25 Renown and my lancemate has a juiced up Star Chameleon. This'll be a good playthrough, I can sense it.

[beorn080]

That's ok. I just found an overload grenade launcher with 108 range, and my lancemate picked up a delightful talent in Born to Fly, while piloting a gaunt, from one of those little side "Hey I have something to show you" missions. He just tripled his usefulness.

[3]

The biggest issue I see with Savins is their scores. They've usually got good components, but they're pretty average otherwise (that doesn't necessarily stand for custom ones, of course, but even then the best thing about those is the unique weapons). Personally I'd take the thing apart and put the useful bits on another base.

Currently having fun with the martial artist exploit. 35000 exp after ~3 hours gameplay without grinding at all (ran through the mines on both the asteroid colonies and did some main quest stuff, that's all).

[Earthquake Damage]

Currently having fun with the martial artist exploit. 35000 exp after ~3 hours gameplay without grinding at all (ran through the mines on both the asteroid colonies and did some main quest stuff, that's all).

This continues to reinforce my opinion that PV-dependent combat/kill XP is horribly flawed right now.  Sure, destroying a Dora with your tricked out Ovaknight shouldn't yield as much XP as the reverse, but the effect is ridiculous.  The way it's set up right now, you pretty much have to run as lean as possible with the worst possible gear if you want general XP (as opposed to direct skill XP, which I don't have much problem with).

I suppose that wouldn't be a huge problem if the name of the game wasn't cool (expensive) toys.

[Krath]

The biggest issue I see with Savins is their scores. They've usually got good components, but they're pretty average otherwise (that doesn't necessarily stand for custom ones, of course, but even then the best thing about those is the unique weapons). Personally I'd take the thing apart and put the useful bits on another base.

Considering this Savin is 75 tons and has pretty average MR/TR, you may have a point. I could always save the next Chameleon I get from battle with Aegis, and pimp it out with parts from the Savin. The Flare Cannon is truly awesome.

[3]

I expect you'll find a Luna at some point, the only real disadvantage of which is that they have integral claws (I think they're 2 tons, 2 slots each, but they've got EXTEND, which makes them far more useful than they'd otherwise be). Other than that they're pretty impressive.

[Krath]

Haven't encountered any Luna's yet, just Chameleons and the generic mechs everyone uses. I was doing the first Cavalier Club quest and got eaten by death rats and had to get a replacement spine, so that set my renown back a fair bit. I'm back in action though.

If I find the Luna's arms unsatisfactory I can always rip off the Savin's arms and slap them on. Then again, Savin arms are 10 tons...Hrmm.

The only thing I'm regretting about the custom Savin is it didn't come with a Breaker Cannon, and I heard those are awesome. The Heavy Flare Cannon (I don't think I've adequately explained how badass this is) is 8x10, has 100 ammo, +1 Accuracy, and has BURN and SWARM. It also has enough speed to be fired once every 2 turns, which is more than enough. The Savin also has 2.1 million PV when most mechs around this point have 200-400k.

[beorn080]

You should save the savin for story missions and run something cheaper during standard mech missions. More xp that way.

[Blackray Jack]

I tried to get into this game and failed miserably; what with having no clue what to do for my opening moves and being blasted in outer space by some robots but this talk of randomized stories and personalized main villains intrigue me.

Can anyone tell me the features of this game besides those already stated in the OP (unless you can elaborate with more detail) and make a few suggestions on how to start out, good skills, etc?

My first character was some young kid with a ton of money by the way, I can pull up specifics if needed.

[Krath]

I tried to get into this game and failed miserably; what with having no clue what to do for my opening moves and being blasted in outer space by some robots but this talk of randomized stories and personalized main villains intrigue me.

Can anyone tell me the features of this game besides those already stated in the OP (unless you can elaborate with more detail) and make a few suggestions on how to start out, good skills, etc?

My first character was some young kid with a ton of money by the way, I can pull up specifics if needed.

First, this is the wiki, though it doesn't have alot of Gearhead 2 info, just Gearhead 1.

First of all, your starting mech will shape your strategy alot. Don't start with a Wraith or Shard, as aerofighters are slightly difficult to use for a new player. The best starting ranged mech (IMO) is the War Cry, because the Railgun on that thing is just brutal. The Haiho is the close combat mech of choice because it has the mighty ROCKET HAMMER and it's decently armored. Failing those, Pumas and Ice Winds are solid choices. Don't get a Buru Buru or variant of one because they're honestly pretty crappy.

The game took me a little while to get in to as well, but I can tell you a bit about combat.

You know how your mech HUD on the bottom left has one red bar on the left and a green one on the right? Green is elevation, red is speed. Pressing + causes your mech to go forward at full speed, reducing enemies chance to hit you but also reducing your accuracy. Pressing 5 on the numpad will cause your mech to hold position, meaning you have greatly increased accuracy but enemies also can hit you more easily. Also, pressing Shift + R in battle will allow you to see the math and rolls.

Also, your character might be flawed at character generation. Reflexes affect your piloting the most, Perception and Speed as well. Charm and Ego are two sides of the same coin. If you're getting Charm, get Conversation, if you're getting Ego, get Intimidation and Taunt (Taunt is GREAT).

As for skills, Mecha Piloting is hands down the most important skill. After that, get Mecha Gunnery or Mecha Fighting depending on if you're ranged or melee. Mecha Engineering is used for taking parts off a mech or installing new parts, so it's also fairly important. Initiative increases the speed at which you perform actions, so that's also a good choice. Spot Weakness increases chance of critical hits, and Electronic Warfare gives you a chance to negate attacks if your mech has an EMC Suite.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea to get Dodge and either Ranged Combat or Close Combat, because the chance of having to do at least a few missions on foot is pretty high. You'll be glad you did when you start fighting things like Armored Fungi.

Anyway, I've rambled enough, so yeah.

[adwarf]

Sweet this looks cool must try.