Recommended starting squad

[SireChaos]

What would you recommend as a starting squad of titans?

My suggestion is:

- one close combat titan
- two short/medium range titans
- one medium/long range titan

I also suggest sticking to titans with only one category of weapon systems at the beginning, because in my experience starting jocks can usually only max out one gunnery skill.

What seems to work for me is:

- Duellist (close combat)
- Porcupine (short/medium range)
- Pest (short/medium range)
- Unicorn (medium/long range support)

[Aensland]

Sounds about right, although I don't think I picked those... pretty sure I picked by weapon. Great, I wrote them down:
 
- Badger (EC) - short
- Will-o'-Wisp (CG) - short
- Locust (EU) - short/medium
- Prowler (EH) - close/short
 
I don't remember what prompted me to pick those. Knowing what I do now, I wouldn't have taken the Badger or the Will-o'-Wisp, and I'm not too happy with the other 2 either. I do recall reconfiguring the Will-o'-Wisp - ditched the guided missiles, and replaced them with 2 machine guns, a short range missile rack (4), and a small laser (pretty large loadout for a recon [;)] ).
 
My choices were influenced mainly by the poor starting skills, and I figured that trying to prop up the hit percentages for medium range and beyond was pretty much hopeless. Basically I had everyone rush the enemy to engage them at point blank range. Enemy missilers were a pain, yes, but once you got in their minimum range (easy, since Recons are fast), they're meat.
 
Once I got better I immediately ditched these deathtraps for customised Light Titans, which I used for a considerably longer period.

[SireChaos]

The problem with your choice is that they all have two (or in case of the modified WoW, three) types of weapons.
By carefully creating your jocks, you can give them one gunnery skill of around 60, which is enough to allow for decent gunnery under most circumstances.

I also think the Unicorn is the ultimate support titan of the recon class, as it has a long range, good heat dissipation, high damage (that Gauss Rifle packs a punch...) and good ammo supply. I think it is even a decent choice to support a squad of light titans.

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

What would you recommend as a starting squad of titans?

My suggestion is:

- one close combat titan
- two short/medium range titans
- one medium/long range titan

I also suggest sticking to titans with only one category of weapon systems at the beginning, because in my experience starting jocks can usually only max out one gunnery skill.

What seems to work for me is:

- Duellist (close combat)
- Porcupine (short/medium range)
- Pest (short/medium range)
- Unicorn (medium/long range support)

That makes a lot of sense and I shall try these out. Thanks.

Best wishes,

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: Aensland

My choices were influenced mainly by the poor starting skills, and I figured that trying to prop up the hit percentages for medium range and beyond was pretty much hopeless. Basically I had everyone rush the enemy to engage them at point blank range. Enemy missilers were a pain, yes, but once you got in their minimum range (easy, since Recons are fast), they're meat.

Yes, this is my current tactic but it's neither pretty nor sophisticated.

Best wishes,

[Burzmali]

Well, first you get a Guru.
 
Then you get another Guru.
Third, one more Guru.
 
After that... I like the Banzai, Stingray and the one with the NB (Wraithchild?).  For complete details, see my collected works

[Aensland]

Cooling on a Recon gives me the jitters... the Guru's Tesla Bolt is indeed impressive, but if you miss with that one shot, it's not going to be pretty... I pretty much avoided the "exotic" weaponry until way into the campaigns, when I upgraded to Medium Titans - my staple weapon of choice were the medium/pulse lasers.

SireChaos: yeah, that was when I was first starting out and thought everyone "needed" to be at least marginally self-sufficient in close combat [:)] Got shot up pretty badly the first few battles, but managed to keep everyone alive. The thing about the longer ranged weapons is that aiming is just terrible at low levels. I remember being absolutely appalled with the missiles' to-hit% especially. I only actually started thinking about dividing my team into lead / flank / support when I upgraded to Light Titans.

Also, I kinda prefered to have smaller weapons since you could fire them more often - missing with a large weapon meant waiting there reloading while the enemy kept shooting at you. When everyone is on Recons, even small lasers work just fine

Of course, your mileage may vary. Have fun!

[Thorgrim]

ORIGINAL: SireChaos

The problem with your choice is that they all have two (or in case of the modified WoW, three) types of weapons.

Yep, initially that's not a good choice. Get the updated database, some of the designs were slightly changed to address this, mainly because of the AI. Notice that recons with 2 or 3 weapon types can be useful in later stages of a squad too, you don't have to play assaults only when you get to that point [;)]

By carefully creating your jocks, you can give them one gunnery skill of around 60, which is enough to allow for decent gunnery under most circumstances.

Right. The HQ is yet another game within the game, not just the factory. Every module is a challenge. Jock creation is pretty cool, and rewarding if you do it right.

I also think the Unicorn is the ultimate support titan of the recon class, as it has a long range, good heat dissipation, high damage (that Gauss Rifle packs a punch...) and good ammo supply. I think it is even a decent choice to support a squad of light titans.

Great recon, yes. LLs are great in recons too, there are a couple of designs in the updated database that work quite well.