Battletech....

Ironman mode..... Yea I did it, have been doing it for some time. This run that I'll waffle about is actually my third 'serious' take, a run from about 10 attempts. 7 or so that I tried and decided were not worth going on with so I ended up deleting. Two more left behind are early stage but with choices that made them problematic yet salvageable. Work I wasn't convinced was worth the time and effort but were still worth holding onto. Career Ironman mode is all about that one limited save under a time limit. Day's counting down till your judged on your actions. Points allocated to what you did and didn't do.

I've never felt such pressure regarding jumping from system to system in other modes before. An additional point of pressure to really consider. Not just what job to take but where to take it in the least amount of time. What faction you can screw with, then do another mission in the same system to repair that damage. Always playing both sides. Or three sides.... Or four. Damn the pirates.

Pressures everywhere. Career Iron man is a mode that made me constantly the underdog. I swear I could have had an entire lance of Atlas mech's and still get told I need more firepower.

Not that I made it in any way easy on myself I went for the mech parts needed at 8. What a mistake that was yet I was making more progress overall with this save so I 'ran with it'.
Mechs needing a higher number of salvage parts means having to make do with what you can get. Buying salvage.... Never thought I'd end up doing that. Yet I did to help finish some. Always getting a mech that was never one I really wanted. Making do indeed.

On an up note I now have a greater appreciation of jump jet enabled mechs and their ability to fire after a jump. I've never done so much fire and maneuver in the game before. Sometimes comically running about the battlefield in order to get a better position or ambush. Urban cityscape maps are both a blessing and a curse on front.

Loosing special weapons became a norm, never thought that would happen either. Yet hard missions need the best and in the end it's all expendable. Like in another game the phrase it's no use in the hanger bay comes to mind. Use it or loose it also comes to mind but even if you do use it and loose it at least it did some portion of help. All a far cry from my usual sparing the best of the best and send in the clowns techniques. Previous campaigns were so much easier in retrospect.

What I'd have given for my main campaign to transfer that backup of a backup lance of stalkers. I'd have taken even just one of their spares.

With all the Expansion/DLC's installed there were good upsides.

Flashpoints were good to me for gear and salvage as well as some reputations. Usually with a Flashpoint it's for a faction and by doing it you gain with that faction but stage 2 or three will have you face another faction that you didn't wan to loose standings with; But the storylines usually play out that it's not such a lose in the end. The price for the prize item..... Which is not usually what you think it should be. Like a Lost Tech weapon you'd really not have(so sold it!) or rare Mech salvage(so where am I gonna get another 7 parts!)....

I don't mean to sound all down and drab but it's a game mode that in retrospect was punishing. I made it so much worse with taking hard options. Doing it all over an extended period of time, a few missions at a time was the only way to keep sane. A notepad with info and a sketched out 2 line plan of action was as organised as I got.

Ah the mech meta...

I was proud to have the Argo fully refurbished. It took some sacrifice but was worth it. A driving push to make it through.

I found the pressure of this game mode changed some of the options I'd normally have taken; While others were always a 'no brainer'.

I don't recall this conversation in any campaign playthrough but this has the best response to a situation; It captured my mood exactly!! They wouldn't have been the first 'sacrifice' ever made. Was a great moment for me.

So whats the verdict......

Underwhelming. Very underwhelming. I played what I thought was a blinder considering the luck I got(being Irish was a plus in that regard ;-p). The result has me feeling like it wasn't worth the effort. I thought I'd have scored so much better. I avoided looking at the full details so maybe it's my own fault. I blinkered myself from taking all into consideration. Not sure if that was really a bad thing.
I played the game as a career and not 'just for the points'. I think aiming for the most points instead of running a merc company would have been way more difficult with it's own set of roadblocks. Like getting hung up on mech part searching or training warriors.

To get a better result would require a massive min/max effort with the luck of well something better than the luck of the Irish and then some. The maximum effort at all times with a 10 step ahead plan with all the results going your way is such a thin line. I know Ironman in games is supposed to be hard; To push your luck and come out on top many times over. I failed on may aspects and this shows in the results. I sold mech parts I should have held onto. I hired and fired pilots when I should have kept more of them longterm. I chose missions on my immediate need rather than the end game reputations.

I'm glad I ran a mile from XCom's Ironman mode.

I'm glad to have done it in Battletech. There's a sense of accomplishment not doubt but seeing that end result score was deflating. Like climbing mount Everest and then realizing that there's another 2 Everest's worth of accents to go but times up. The effort your'd need to get a higher score is way to much for me to even think about.

Not gonna be trying that again. If I do anything else in game it's gonna be that pirate run I've been waffling about for a year or more.... Maybe.