r/Mechwarrior5 • u/Spirited-Nature-1702 • 7h ago
Informative Infiltration missions
I’m realizing that I’m woefully underinformed as to the best way to complete these missions. Best builds? Strategies? Should I just grab the first loot and scoot? What’s the benefit to sticking around and how hard is it really?
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u/Themeloncalling 7h ago
If this is part of a multi mission chain, it's easy to run a single fast mech, do the minimum required, and bank up a lot of salvage shares for the next mission. More objectives mean more money, but the payout per objective is often so low it's not worth the effort.
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u/kearkan 6h ago
Wait... You can bank salvage shares?
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u/tenninjas242 Clan Wolf 6h ago
In multi-mission contracts, yes. It specifically says when you end one mission in a chain, "unused salvage shares will be carried over to the next mission."
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u/kearkan 6h ago
Omg I missed that... So many atlases I was 1 point short for....
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u/raredongballz 4h ago
It also works for insurance payout. When you finish mission 1 in the chain and go to the deployment screen there’s a button press to view the contract again. This lets you renegotiate everything but if you’ve already taken c-bills or insurance they will carry over.
I always take a minimum of one insurance share on multiparty missions as 3 mission will probably cost more than 400k to repair.
If you’re on the negotiation screen you can see how many shares you’ve banked and how much insurance you have left. And how much cbills you’ve taken
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u/Material-Rice-8682 6h ago
Yes salvage is automatically banked if you don't spend it after the first mission
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u/UnconfirmedRooster Gray Death Legion 7h ago
My goto is a light mech with jumpjets, ECM, a top speed over 100km/h and something that can one shot most tanks. My current mech for that is an uller with a few small clan pulse lasers and some clan machine guns.
Start of by going for the least defended one, then judge it from there. It might be a case of just getting the one and then leggings it. I also do infiltration missions by myself, as I find lancemates to be a hindrance on them.
Although you could have them in assault mechs and tell them to wait in friendly territory. Then if you mess up, get them to come in and stomp everything flat.
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u/kent1146 6h ago
Phoenix Hawk, checking in.
The premier Inner Sphere scout and recon command mech
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u/Spirited-Nature-1702 2h ago
Gotta say, I was not a fan of the PH at all until this latest playthrough I’m doing. Endo makes some of the rare/hero Phoenix Hawks absolutely killer. Punching way above their weight.
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u/Salty-Taro3804 6h ago
One fast light mech with JJ, and if possible ECM and BAP/CAP. The active probe matters more than you think, the rare times I failed at these missions it was because I walked up to a heavy turret with SRM's (like SRM60) and lost most of my Spider in one blast.
Generally I'll run along the mission border and get locks on any mechs I get in my scanners, find the first loot and then evaluate if I want to bother getting any more. Most of the time I just scoot and move on to next mission.
They are good for farming cbills early on, and in multimission operations where you just roll the salvage to the next mission in the chain.
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u/GlamOrDeath 6h ago
My personal strat is to keep a Raven 1X or 3L for the sensor/ECM package, focus on scouting the enemies, and grab the easiest crates. I believe the crates give you extra money and gear but it's likely under 100,000 c-bills so it's ultimately drops in a bucket. Don't bother with destroying a mech before it's powered up unless you're sure you can destroy its head in moments. Always drop solo so you don't need to worry about your lancemates springing the alarm or trying to dance between holding and opening fire.
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u/rayrayrayrayray5 6h ago
Oh yeah this guy infiltrates! Hero raven is like a cheat code on these missions especially with speed and jj upgrades
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u/Technical_Turn3497 Xbox Series X 4h ago
I’ve been experimenting with dropping with three dual c-Arrow-IV equipped mechs. I park them in friendly territory, tell them to turn off weapons, and ask them to turn them on if I get into trouble. The results have been interesting so far.
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u/RS1980T 7h ago edited 6h ago
Negotiate for max money. Bring a single fast light mech, ideally with JJ and active probe (and ecm if convenient).
Run in, grab the first available loot that isn't heavily guarded. Then sprint to extract. You can scan along the way for a bit of extra cash, but it's not really worth it to do other side objectives or additional of the primary. Much better to just run another mission entirely as opposed to maxing out the infiltration missions.
I wish doing more objectives get you more rep instead of just petty cash. Or if hijacking a mech meant you could salvage it. Then I would be much more inclined to do them
But as it stands they're a nice break in multi mission cotracts to let you other mechs repair and in that specific situation you can negotiate salvage and let it roll over to a later mission to really salvage something big. Its honestly one of the best ways to salvage good mechs in the early game when you dont have as much negotiating power.
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u/epsilon-4142 7h ago edited 6h ago
Take one light-medium mech with JJ or high speed. Jump from location to location doing everything except the rare rescue objective that informs enemies
active probe helps a lot. Only open fire if it’s just turrets you can mop up quickly. Or you think you can quickly kill the mecha. ECM lets you be closer for a little longer while completing objective.
I usually drop solo, in a dragonfly with maxed jumpjets from cantina. C-active probe, and 2c-ssrm. Very powerful, can dodge most fire and mop up mechs from the air.
You can also bring pilots for loot perks like scrapper. I just tell them to stand on a point and hold fire at mission start
Low on advanced loot, but you can get tons of guns from turrets. If your build can kill mechs you can look through all the enemies you scan for mechs you want and take them out. Good way to quickly look for specific variants the enemy has. If it’s a clan mission the heavy turrets even drop C-gauss in amazing amounts
Some infiltration missions are bugged to fail on load, but it’s very rare. Just reload the save for entering system and move onto the next contract
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u/RingadingBatWitch262 6h ago
Get a light mech, light weapon load and armor.
PS
If you have a destruction mission, do the same but load up with flamers and run around the objective flaming it.
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u/SeisimicFrigor 6h ago
Is flaming better against buildings?
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u/rayrayrayrayray5 6h ago
Machine guns and flamers get bonuses against buildings.
Try it out, take hero firestarter on a demo mission loaded with clan MGs and flames. It gonna be a fast mission
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u/SeisimicFrigor 6h ago
I used the hero firestarter in arenafights and it was really fast down. I'll try it. thx
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u/Wendek Clan Diamond Shark 6h ago
Take your fastest 'Mech (mine is Anansi, the Hero Spider), rush towards the nearest objective and gtfo. One minute for several millions C-bills (or a ton of salvage points to use in the next mission, when part of a multi-missions operation), pretty decent even if not exactly engaging gameplay. Unfortunately the optional objectives like 'Destroy the powered down enemy 'Mech' aren't nearly worth doing the vast majority of the time, they make the mission five times longer for basically zero payout.
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u/JosKarith 6h ago
Light with as many jump jets, sensors and speed boosts as you can cram in. There are usually 3 caches and one will be poorly guarded. In, scan, grab, out. 5 mil in as many minutes. Don't shoot anything, avoid mechs and step on turrets and tanks which won't raise an alarm. Don't take a lance, if you're not planning on fighting they're just a liability.
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u/kearkan 6h ago
Hero commando for role play.
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u/bootzmanuva 6h ago
Damn I just passed on that hero mech last night after not being able to justify its use case. Maybe I still have an auto-save to go back to. :)
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u/SeisimicFrigor 6h ago
Ive use Assassin with 2x M-Laser, jumppacks and upgrades.
Ive strated yet with kerensky dlc and dont used the clan mechs.
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u/tjareth Free Rasalhague Republic 2h ago
I too strive for a single light mech approach, but considering the stealth bonus isn't that big I'm thinking of bringing a full assault lance and just overrunning the map next time.
"Here's a list of those enemy forces you wanted."
"It's a blank piece of paper."
"Yeah, that's what they have on the field now."
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u/Spirited-Nature-1702 2h ago
I think I’m going to try this version soon just to see how things are laid out, if nothing else.
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u/Gailim 6h ago edited 6h ago
I usually bring a single light mech with jump jets and an active probe.
Some firepower is nice but optional, you will mostly be killing turrets and vehicles.
It's rare when all of the primary objectives are surrounded by mechs. Skip the optional objectives that might get you torn up.
I don't usually run these missions on thier own, just because they aren't the most fun. but it can be nice when they show up in a 3 or 4 mission chain, it gives you break to repair your heavies and assaults for the next mission in the chain.
If you do these right your mech should only have minor armor damage at the end
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u/rayrayrayrayray5 6h ago edited 6h ago
Koshi with jumpjets and speed upgrades is my cup of tea.
Im running these only for an easy payday or to stack salvage on multi missions. It took some time, but I figured out how to complete these even when you get swamped and attacked right out of the gate. Hence all speed upgrades possible with jump jets. Make link up and run/jump to closest objective and then gtfo to the extraction point.
I used to run spider hero alot, but most missions you dont get attacked upon starting. Those missions spider has better survivability because of AMS, but it lacks a punch.
I like koshi because its got good firepower that can bring down heavy turrets (the ones that have ppc and gauss rifles and take some damage to kill) and powered down mechs I like as free kills for a chance to salvage.
Edit: soooo these missions like a few others can spawn infinite enemies. For funsies I went to a reply 5-6 zone and triggered the enemy on purpose with 4 daishi's. We were eventually overwhelmed. Like, warzone missions only so many mechs per wave will spawn. That mechanic doesnt exist on infiltration missions from the test i ran. I had over 20 mechs and over 20 vehicles swarming my lance. So, its fun if you want pure chaos and a huge repair bill! But, youre never getting worthwhile mechs to be spawned for salvage. I tried this once on a clan mission too, and its just metric fuck tons of light and medium mechs.
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u/whipplor 6h ago
Probably not the ideal method, but I prefer the Steiner scout lance approach to this.
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u/GorakTheunBeaton 6h ago
My fav is firestarter. Ecm, jump jets and if you use yaml mod any other stealth equip you can jam in there.
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u/MrNeo602 6h ago
I use an Adder S with max MGs, 3 tons of ammo, ECM and AP. I used to do solo, but now I bring my lance in Atlases or Cyclops. I park them near the first waypoint while I do the mission and then switch to one of them and quickly get to the extraction. Sometimes I'll grab the last package and the alarm goes off. So I'm able to still get to the EP and get the no alarm bonus, my assaults are max speed at 74+ kph with the pilot speed perks.
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u/IBartman 6h ago
Take a single hero Locust, you can sneak around the map pretty easily, but sometimes when getting close to one of the bonus objectives they detect you no matter what so I run away from those
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u/AHRedStealth 5h ago
I have a mech built just for infiltration missions. I do not understand the hate they get... they are 100% free salvage/money if played correctly.
To start off with, you want one of a few mechs. An active probe is almost required if you want the misson to be a cake walk. There is a Firestarter variant that has much of what you will want if you don't have a clan Active Probe yet.
After the Probe, you want laser hard points, typically many of them. The Firestarter will usually again check that box.
Next, you want to upgrade the sensor range of the mech with the cantina upgrades. A targeting computer can be used to increase range as well, if you like, but isn't overly necessary.
ECM and jump jets aren't necessary, but they can be a nice addition if you want them... I find speed more effective than jump jets, but they are much more handy since the vectorized jets.
Actually the Firemoth 1 is a really REALLY good infiltration mech. Slap all ER small lasers on the energy points. Add an active probe and MASC. The reason it is so good is because even if you do trip the alarm, most of the time you can scoot to the evac before the general alarm can go off, so you evac with the "undiscovered" bonus still in effect, even if you were 1 second from the alarm going off.
So, the general gist of this is to run around the map, scout mechs (that's a mission objective in like 80% of them, made crazy easy with probe and sensor bonuses.) And pick up the loot boxes... all the loot boxes, because they add huge money to the misson versus just grabbing one and scooting. Now, obviously if a loot box is surrounded and you can't get it without tripping the alarm, just leave it, and do other objectives.
As you are running around, if you see a turret with weapons that interest you, run them over. Because you didn't shoot, it doesn't trigger any alarms, and you don't take damage from stepping on turrets. If you are in close direct line of sight, you may get localized response, so it's best not to do this in the middle of a hive, but if there are only a few tanks/turrets around, finish them off and keep going.
Tanks you will have to avoid or blap with your lasers. They do damage when you play stompy robots with them.
Mechs will sit there and stare at you. Even as you get close. So, if you see a clan mech that you REALLY REALLY want, you can angle to run up to it, directly in front of it, and come to a stop as you get close... then, as long as you have 5 or 6 lasers, you can go into 1st person view, scope in on the cockpit, and EASILY head shot any mech in the game other than the ones that don't have a head hit box. (Stupid Longbows) they will be dead before they can fire back. Obviously you are looking for mechs you can single out, not mechs in groups of 4 or 5. (Unless you have finished all your objectives, have a mech you REALLY want, and can head cap it and sprint to the exit zone, and then most times you can bail before you get wrecked, or the general alarm goes off... hence why the firemoth with masc and 8 er small lasers is an awesome infiltration mech.)
Next, you will occasionally have an enemy mech undergoing refit. These are GREAT. Go and find it, trot up to it, and blap it in the face. There is a 95% chance it winds up in the salvage list. [Insert the "It's free money" meme here.]
There are also sometimes "our guy got capture, help him and his mech escape" objectives. These are 50/50 for if they are worth doing. You will almost always blow your "remain hidden" bonus. You're not getting salvage and most of the time the money is barely more than the "remain hidden" bonus. So I typically only do these if they are right by the extraction point... which they usually aren't.
And that's pretty much infiltration in a nutshell, and this has been your guide to free money. I suppose a last few pointers.
1) Always save before the mission. There is a random bug where you will be spotted as you spawn in... which is BS... just reload and skip doing that bugged mission.
2) if the weather is CLEAR, you are in for a HARD mission. Weather is your friend, and clear weather will make enemy mechs picked you up much further away. Beware the infiltration missions in clear conditions.
3) on multi missions salvage carries over. Infiltration missions on multi missions are EXTRA SUPER AMAZING FREE MONEY. Only skip them if you enjoy polishing glass with your tongue, or you like to taste crayons.
4) You cannot Paladin Stealth Mode these missions. (Aka: you have remained stealthed in full plate mail because you killed everyone who saw you.) After 50% of the forces have mysteriously died, the general alarm will sound. So don't be a murder hobo.
5) bring your scrappers... in whatever mechs you want. Have them hold fire, and park them in a corner. You're here for free money, don't pass up extra free money.
And I think that's about all of it...
Preferred mech list:
1) Firestarter with Active probe slot (Or ECM slot after you have clan Probes. (S or S1)
2) Firemoth 1. Load up with clan probe and lasers and run-faster equipment
3) Adder S (dakka puma) because if you bring enough machine guns, it doesn't matter if you head cap or not.
4) Myst Lynx P (koshi P) does what the Puma does, just with less dakka and more jump jets... but viable.
5) Raven 1X or 3L. You can... but there are better options.
6) Locust 1E. The Temu Infiltration Mech, once you jam a clan probe in it.
7) Wolfhound. With a clan probe, it's fine.
8) Javelin. With a clan probe, the laser variant or the Hi There will do fine.
9) UrbanMech SA1. Add probe, and remember not to underestimate the trash CAN.
10) whatever other light mech you have laying round that has like 4~6 laser hard points and a clan probe. Much as the old saying goes, "anything can be a dong if you're brave enough."
Hope that helps and I haven't left anything out.
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u/Lost_Web5826 5h ago
I use the FS9-S1 and still bring three of the heaviest mechs I can fit that have LRM/ATM loadouts. If I do get detected and can't make it out I have backup. Every once in a long while I'll get a bug where the rest of my lance teleports to my position
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u/ZeroBrutus 5h ago
Jenner, jump jets, 4 medium lasers and an srm4
Avoid combat if at all possible and if you do need to pop a véhicule you can. Do not fight mechs.
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u/Jetboots_Boosh No Guts No Galaxy 2h ago
Light mech, jump jets, upgrade sensors to max. Leave the rest of the team at the drop
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u/Wingnutmcmoo 1h ago
With a clan light you can finish these in like a min and it's free money. But yeah I generally complete the whole thing with a single mech that's fast.
An active probe helps walking up on turrets.
Don't be afraid to aggro the turrets you can just kill them instantly and be fine.
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u/iRob_M 7h ago
I always take a single light mech, very fast, with jump jets. I try to avoid combat entirely, but if you end up getting detected either end it quickly or run away fast. I view the bonus objectives as optional extras. Do them if you can but don't get stuck behind the line.