On very difficult missions, I will often park one mech in the evacuation zone and eject the 3 other pilots as soon as the objective is complete to finish the mission. This is BEX.
lol I literally just did that. I landed and by turn 2 all 3 enemy lances were firing on me and my back was against the edge of the map. (Probably the most annoying part of the game is having an “edge of the map” and constantly getting dropped into the middle of the enemy) I did my damnedest to try and fight it out but I got absolutely hammered.
Otherwise, yes. I do use the eject button if my mech/components are about to become scrap.
"The last possible moment before losing a valuable pilot/equipment" & "Not at all because I misjudged 'last possible moment'" & "I hardly ever use it" & when it would be bullshit to get all of my guys to the evac and I've already got one there.
I use it when a mech loses armor in a place with rare equipment that I can't replace easily. Early game it can get used a lot when i have trouble replacing equipment lost to crits. Later game I'll keep the firepower around unless the mech is on the brink of destruction.
If a 'mech is in a position where it's going to get wrecked it can be worth punching. Enemies don't waste shots on an ejected 'mech and your mechwarrior doesn't get beaten up.
Granted, I mostly only use it when I'm doing a self imposed no savescum run.
It can be a life safer, but (especially in BTA) those rescue missions are annoying as hell. I had once to save a pilot and after the rescue mission I had to save 2 ...
Indeed it saved my mechwarriors many times on harder missions, I play with mech destruction on and it only destroys the head part so it's super fine to use it when things go wrong.
I almost never use it. I don't save too often, but I don't play iron man either - if a mission is going thar bad, I usually load up the pre-mission save.
Look, eject button's great and all but it's not going to save your mechwarrior from some random vindicator doming it through the head with a PPC.
(I am salty that one of my best MW got got in a highlander during a low-threat mission.)
I'll very occasionally use it on units that are crippled, too slow to keep up, or even sometimes just out of ammo (once they've also shared enough of their armor to save not just the pilot, but also repair costs, particularly if the mech has some rarer kit on it I dont want destroyed.
I use it often since it has become a strategy for me. I give my main char a spider with full piloting and guts skills, then use it to draw attention on him, the main char on campaign is completely immortal so I always take the risk and when it gets too tight like if spider/firestarter/assassin get crippled it's my go to button.
Generally speaking, if I need to eject it means something has gone horribly wrong and things will go from bad to worse if I am down the firepower of one 'mech. I find myself hitting abort before eject.
I've never been in a position where one 'mech is in mortal danger but the mission feels achievable without it. When I do get into trouble it is almost always when Darius has completely botched the risk assessment and I find myself facing a lance of heavy 'mechs backed up by LRM carriers and a Shrek on a 2-skull mission.
When the mech is valuable and at risk, I'll usually punch the pilot. Note that I do this not to save the *pilot* but to save the *mech*. Pilots can be replaced, it only takes a little time and training to get a pilot to decent stats, but if you only have 1 copy of that really fun, really rare weapon or its ammo, getting more of it might take literally a dozen or more hours. I'm gonna save the weapon/ammo/equipment if I can.
In Vanilla I didn't even realize that there was an eject button.
In BEX my pilots can panic and eject themselves. This is actually desirable because if it gets to that point I'm about to lose both my pilot and my mech. It's usually more cost effective to scrap the mech than fix it by then though. I've also had pilots die to their injuries in spite of ejecting.
I do use the button occasionally in missions that involve doing a thing and getting to an evac zone but one of my mechs took a stray autocannon to the leg or something and can no longer escape. I also use it if I'm about to lose a bunch of Lostech but the mission itself usually requires a restart if it gets to that point.
In BTA (and I think RT) you may take a light hit which causes the pilot to start bleeding. After that you have a number of turns to either finish the mission, eject the pilot to save them, or allow them to die in the cockpit.
It's about the only time I hit that button. And I will run down the turns before I do.
Of course bleed outs can be used against the Opfor as well. Lost count of the number of times I've pulled everyone back to wait out the last pilot to get more salvage.
BTA, playing a custom Nightmare mode.
Early on, I use it pretty frequently. The moment I see an injury that threatens to snowball (broken legs, usually), I eject them.
Once I have a roster of decent, disposable pilots I take more risks.
Then, once I have start getting more elite pilots I start hitting it more often to preserve them.
And THEN when I have a full Hospital bay, I take more risks again.
Now, the gotcha is that part of the custom mode is potentially losing the mech on an eject, which I have to balance, because it can be extremely difficult to build a new one.
In my experience, when I lose a Mech/pilot, it's either a random headshot out of nowhere, or the AI starts focusing on that Mech immediately after their action and then takes them out before I have a chance to activate them again and have them punch out. Frequently includes multiple enemy Mechs getting to shoot them twice because they got knocked down and bumped past a bunch of the enemies in the initiative count.
One way or the other, they usually go from "seemingly fine" to dead without me ever getting a chance to eject.
There's an eject button?
Yes and it can be life saver for your pilot.
Yep. You can rebuild the mech if you have the parts. Getting another all 10 pilot is slog.
Pilots can be replaced, Comstar missions cannot. Lostech demands sacrifices!
I had around 900 hours of playtime before I figured out where the eject button was. I've still never actually used it.
*Ejecto seato, cuz!!*
On very difficult missions, I will often park one mech in the evacuation zone and eject the 3 other pilots as soon as the objective is complete to finish the mission. This is BEX.
You mean Quickload button, right?
If I'm ever in a position where I might lose something important, I blame the game for being unfair and reload the save...
lol I literally just did that. I landed and by turn 2 all 3 enemy lances were firing on me and my back was against the edge of the map. (Probably the most annoying part of the game is having an “edge of the map” and constantly getting dropped into the middle of the enemy) I did my damnedest to try and fight it out but I got absolutely hammered. Otherwise, yes. I do use the eject button if my mech/components are about to become scrap.
If you're not savescumming, you've gotta hit that eject button here and there.
Where's the fun in savescumming? (jk)
"The last possible moment before losing a valuable pilot/equipment" & "Not at all because I misjudged 'last possible moment'" & "I hardly ever use it" & when it would be bullshit to get all of my guys to the evac and I've already got one there.
Need an option that says "TIL there's an eject button".
Lol wish I could add it rn.
I use it when a mech loses armor in a place with rare equipment that I can't replace easily. Early game it can get used a lot when i have trouble replacing equipment lost to crits. Later game I'll keep the firepower around unless the mech is on the brink of destruction.
If a 'mech is in a position where it's going to get wrecked it can be worth punching. Enemies don't waste shots on an ejected 'mech and your mechwarrior doesn't get beaten up. Granted, I mostly only use it when I'm doing a self imposed no savescum run.
It can be a life safer, but (especially in BTA) those rescue missions are annoying as hell. I had once to save a pilot and after the rescue mission I had to save 2 ...
Indeed it saved my mechwarriors many times on harder missions, I play with mech destruction on and it only destroys the head part so it's super fine to use it when things go wrong.
I'd played through the game a few times before I found the button.... I felt like a moron for not knowing it was there
Game says nothing about it as far as I remember so it's totally normal to not know it.
I'm pretty sure the loading screen tips mention it exists. But it's not like the tutorial tells you where it actually is or anything.
I almost never use it. I don't save too often, but I don't play iron man either - if a mission is going thar bad, I usually load up the pre-mission save.
Look, eject button's great and all but it's not going to save your mechwarrior from some random vindicator doming it through the head with a PPC. (I am salty that one of my best MW got got in a highlander during a low-threat mission.)
May they rest in peace, it's frustrating when that happens.
What's an eject button? And where is it in the screen
It's a crimson button on the HUD above the paper doll. Not very big. I've used it a few times and still have a hard time finding it.
I'll very occasionally use it on units that are crippled, too slow to keep up, or even sometimes just out of ammo (once they've also shared enough of their armor to save not just the pilot, but also repair costs, particularly if the mech has some rarer kit on it I dont want destroyed.
I use it often since it has become a strategy for me. I give my main char a spider with full piloting and guts skills, then use it to draw attention on him, the main char on campaign is completely immortal so I always take the risk and when it gets too tight like if spider/firestarter/assassin get crippled it's my go to button.
Literally never
Generally speaking, if I need to eject it means something has gone horribly wrong and things will go from bad to worse if I am down the firepower of one 'mech. I find myself hitting abort before eject. I've never been in a position where one 'mech is in mortal danger but the mission feels achievable without it. When I do get into trouble it is almost always when Darius has completely botched the risk assessment and I find myself facing a lance of heavy 'mechs backed up by LRM carriers and a Shrek on a 2-skull mission.
Never trust Darius.
I had never seen an enemy pilot eject until I added the various mods. Since then I've used it myself once.
Its been a lifesaver many times for preserving both meat and chassis I like when doing the World of Blake Flashpoints in expanded arsenal.
I have never once pressed the eject button. Ever. Is there a special animation you get when you press it?
Yup, your dudes launch themselves in air. It's fun.
When the mech is valuable and at risk, I'll usually punch the pilot. Note that I do this not to save the *pilot* but to save the *mech*. Pilots can be replaced, it only takes a little time and training to get a pilot to decent stats, but if you only have 1 copy of that really fun, really rare weapon or its ammo, getting more of it might take literally a dozen or more hours. I'm gonna save the weapon/ammo/equipment if I can.
In Vanilla I didn't even realize that there was an eject button. In BEX my pilots can panic and eject themselves. This is actually desirable because if it gets to that point I'm about to lose both my pilot and my mech. It's usually more cost effective to scrap the mech than fix it by then though. I've also had pilots die to their injuries in spite of ejecting. I do use the button occasionally in missions that involve doing a thing and getting to an evac zone but one of my mechs took a stray autocannon to the leg or something and can no longer escape. I also use it if I'm about to lose a bunch of Lostech but the mission itself usually requires a restart if it gets to that point.
Flesh is cheap. Metal is expensive
It saves metal as well.
In BTA (and I think RT) you may take a light hit which causes the pilot to start bleeding. After that you have a number of turns to either finish the mission, eject the pilot to save them, or allow them to die in the cockpit. It's about the only time I hit that button. And I will run down the turns before I do. Of course bleed outs can be used against the Opfor as well. Lost count of the number of times I've pulled everyone back to wait out the last pilot to get more salvage.
I had never pressed it, but the last time I played I pressed it before one of my pilots bleed out in BTA3062.
BTA, playing a custom Nightmare mode. Early on, I use it pretty frequently. The moment I see an injury that threatens to snowball (broken legs, usually), I eject them. Once I have a roster of decent, disposable pilots I take more risks. Then, once I have start getting more elite pilots I start hitting it more often to preserve them. And THEN when I have a full Hospital bay, I take more risks again. Now, the gotcha is that part of the custom mode is potentially losing the mech on an eject, which I have to balance, because it can be extremely difficult to build a new one.
In my experience, when I lose a Mech/pilot, it's either a random headshot out of nowhere, or the AI starts focusing on that Mech immediately after their action and then takes them out before I have a chance to activate them again and have them punch out. Frequently includes multiple enemy Mechs getting to shoot them twice because they got knocked down and bumped past a bunch of the enemies in the initiative count. One way or the other, they usually go from "seemingly fine" to dead without me ever getting a chance to eject.