If I'm not mistaken, isn't this similar to the 'page skip' glitch of MW:2 Mercs?

I know there isn't a ton of uniformity between the series categories, mostly because they're so infrequently run it's not a huge deal. But as long as it's a repeatable glitch on a system, DOSBOX or original hardware, I've got zero issues with adding a category similar to what the expansion has :)

I would "second" both full and level runs¡ Level runs usually encourage some maneuvers and attempts you might not try for marathons, but help in studying movement mechanics :)

I love playing this game, dedicating quite a bit of time to it as a player, but not sure I can try to offer more than advice as it's difficult figuring out how to mod the games I already do :/

Finished recording an "all Republic Missions" run but found the recording to be a bit choppy in a few places. The choppiness is reflected in the livesplit as well, but I'm not sure if the level of choppiness would be disqualifying.

Run is uncut from beginning to end, just hopping to main menu to switch away from Imp missions. Will upload to YouTube later and submit if that's okay.

I was very happy I managed to complete a run of MechWarrior 3: Pirate's Moon, and get it added here as a game.

But, it's definitely not easy. For starters, there are instructions on how to even install the game, which may or may not work for everyone's PC. Then, there's the natural difficulty of the series, as it is a simulation game and nearly every key on the keyboard corresponds to various systems of your 'Mech. Then there's knowledge of the in-game systems and understanding how all the mechanics work. (Weapons, heat management, engine size, ammunition, criticals.) It's also up there as one of the hardest campaigns in the series.

The thing is, while this difficulty is manageable for me, I've never managed to complete a Mario game casually. I can barely beat classic DOOM games without save-scumming, much less speedrunning. Difficulty is a hard thing to pin down since all players have certain skills that make certain things easier, or weaknesses which make other things harder.

Check out abandonware. I'm a big fan of the MechWarrior series and everything in the series besides the most recent releases has been abandoned. Even if MW isn't your cup 'o tea, there's lots of old PC games to find.

Thank you SO much for your reply, it actually gives me a new idea to help standardize runs.

Due to the fact that no other game in the series is logged as 'segmented runs' I was discounting that idea. In other games of the series, menu navigation/customization options were just part of the timed run. Due to the inherent instability of the game, the "in-mission" timer is perhaps far more effective to make things normalized.

The thing is, crashes are absolutely a hindrance if timing from start to finish in this game. In a series of 10 missions, progress is only saved if the mission is completed, and crashes only occur in-mission. So any crash is a reset of what you need to complete.

If the runs are segmented, there's no consequences for in-mission failure, and customization does not get timed, but that would likely be the most fair way to judge timing, as it would be the same for any player making an attempt, regardless of their own stability.

Crashes easily added 2+ hours to my attempt, and a heap of frustration. I normally would just move on, but it's sort of my own personal goal to complete every game in the series, and have them added to the archive.

Thank you so much for your input, hopefully we can work it out!

There is a game I would like to add to the site, it does belong to a series, and I have contacted the moderator. This topic is more to get the general thoughts from community.

The game in question is very unstable, it is a PC game created during a brief period of time between DOS and XP, meant to run on Windows 98. Through third party applications (designed to translate video for modern machines) it can run, but can be prone to crashes.

I have completed a run, and paused timer for each crash, restarting as I loaded back in. I wasn't particularly worried about the specific time, I want it recorded for posterity. At the same time, I realize technical issues may make it non-competitive, but again, I figure if there's at least a start then maybe over time we may be able to pool thoughts on how to fix the issues for good.

Any thoughts? Is it okay to run a game that may be difficult to even get to work?

I did complete a run, I did not use power sliding though. Also played on medium difficulty.

I'd like to get some more interest in speedrunning MechWarrior games, to warrant categories such as glitchless and stuff.

Apologies, I'm asking similar questions in multiple forums, but I just want to be sure I do things right when I do them :)

I notice there aren't many rules for Mercenary 100%, and so I wanted to check first. Is it merely a complete playthrough, without abusing glitches?

If so, similar to my post in the MW2 forum, would a submission be okay as long as it is a recording of the game from start to finish, even if reloads are necessary for mission failures? Obviously, that would be sub-optimal, but I would like to complete a run and then submit it, and then improve on said time afterwards.

I am relatively new to the speedrunning community, and so I wanted to ask what would be required for submitting a run to this game.

I am hardly an expert at this game, and after viewing the runs already here, not sure I can be quite as competitive at the current record holders.

But I would like to submit one, even if it has some missteps and failures, and improve on that over time. I just know that a general rule of most submissions is, every submission needs to be an attempt at a speedrun, not just a video of casual gameplay.

Just curious if I run this, even if it's full of mistakes, even maybe a reset or two, it would still be okay to submit as long as the current criteria are met, of playing on Medium and keeping heat tracking on.

I'm relatively new to speedrunning in general, but had a question for moderators of this game.

If someone were to set up to do a full playthrough, would it be okay to play using a new save file? I notice for level splits, using combat simulator is fairer since you cannot change loadouts.

But, in a full playthrough, would that really be necessary? I figure the hardest part about a full playthrough will just managing it in a single session, and anything loadout-wise that may help shorten it would be good.

I know it's unlikely to get many submissions, but I was thinking of challenges I could manage, and felt like giving it a try.

I know I wrote it, "on the surface," but it works for periscope as well. The red flags appear on binocs if you are on surface, but once submerged becomes periscope 'knobs.' It won't change if you surface or submerge on that screen, but will change if you return from the menu screen. Not much of an effect other than appearance.

Up or Down on Controller 2 will change deck gun 'deflection.' Basically...imagine aiming up or down more, to 'lob' the shell higher or closer to surface. You can sort of see this in the graphics. If you fire a shell, and you see a 'splash' in front of your target, you need to fire a shot to go further back. If the 'splash' is behind the target, you need to aim lower.

If you hold 'B' on controller 1, and press 'A' on controller 2, you can 'blow emergency tanks' and you may resurface after taking damage. For the purposes of speedrunning, however, I doubt this maneuver is very useful. If you've taken a depth charge, you are likely to be surfacing straight into a collision anyways.

You can also hold the 'A' button on controller 2, press 'B' on controller 1, and release bilge to 'fool' destroyers. I've never actually seen this work. If you can use the periscope, you are at 44ft deep or above that. To avoid destroyer sonar, you would need to be about 300 ft below or lower, and you would likely be blind to the whole map, unless enemies are making noise. Based on needing to be 44ft or above, you are unlikely to ever dive fast enough to avoid destroyer sonar, and have this technique work.

But...maybe this info could be useful for anyone playing. This is coming straight from instruction manual, but I haven't been testing these extra maneuvers since they're not really helpful for getting done fast. During War Patrol I'd always suggest taking out escorts as fast as possible with torpedoes, then surface and use deck guns on remainder of convoy.

I think I figured out what you were talking about. Fixed the aspect ratio a bit, so it's more of a fullscreen view on the capture, rather than a scaled-down size. Experimented with settings in FCEUX and OBS, seems that OBS needed the screen grab altered a bit more. The extra space is still visible to me, while playing, but for viewers it crops out the extra waste.

Also, sorry if I'm a bit over-enthusiastic. Don't mean to bug anyone with excitement. Just never expected to actually be competitive in anything speedrunning, and already getting into a charity stream next weekend to run all the convoy actions in the game.

During recording sessions to fix ratio, recorded a time better than one submitted for Torp/Gun practice, but I didn't wanna get too annoying filling out way too many submissions in a short period of time.

I didn't change any default settings on FCEUX, except that I run it borderless windowed, and I have a dual monitor setup so I can have some notes to refer to on other monitor.

If I run it fullscreen it causes issues, but I think I can change the aspect ratio to 'TV' setting, and it stretches out the center a bit so there's not so much wasted space.

Is that sort of what you mean? I do want to display videos as best as possible.

Hey there, I apologize for making a post so late. I understand that it's well past the 2 week mark for submissions, so I'm not asking to join in, but I would like to get some more info or points of contact for future events.

I love the idea of helping a charity out, especially for LGBT causes. I currently only run a single game, not sure how popular it would be, but I'd love to chat with those running these types of events and see how I might be able to contribute or get involved.

I'm still very new to everything speedrunning. So this account is only a week old, YT channel was left unused for years until recently, but, would be very excited to join in any future events, or to prep for this next year!

Sort of necro'ing the topic a bit, but I'm a Navy veteran going to University for an IT degree. No job at the moment, internship stopped before it ever started due to current situation. Consider myself lucky to have partial disability for income.

Gotta say, recording has been going really well. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested, but I did just record a session where I went through the entire game, Torpedo/Target Practice, All Convoy Actions, and War Patrol Max Rank, at difficulty 9 for all. Took 1:06:42, so it is a long video, but a marathon run is totally doable.

Sank quite a few times on the Grayback scenario, and had to start the War Patrol over as well, so plenty of room to improve.

I just started recording/uploading/submitting runs this past weekend. I'm starting with Silent Service, the submarine simulation for NES. Hope to eventually record tutorials and help for playing it, I know it gets a lot of negative attention for being too complicated.

(I know thread is for future, but I just started, and it's what I'm intending to do for awhile.)

Thanks Amune! Hope you do well on yours as well. Plan to do a few runs this weekend, and seeing as how some are emulated runs I'm gonna go with that setup for now, using OBS like you suggested. Right now, FCEUX and OBS is a lot easier for me to setup than trying to capture my NES.

Hello, I have a few questions about rules for running this game as well as the possibility of adding any categories.

#1 - How should we record it? I have both a physical copy + FCEUX, but cannot easily set up a capture card in my home right now. Just curious on what method of recording would be acceptable for uploading runs?

#2 - Is there a possibility of getting a few more categories? I was thinking something along the lines of 'all historical scenarios', or 'highest war patrol rank.'