MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy () (pc) [Any %] [Single Segment] [Easy] [Bloodname Ending] [0:26:23]
Run Information
Completion Date April 23, 2025
State Processing
Tag Bloodname Ending
Links
Verification Thread
Run Comments

This was done on easy difficulty for the purpose of speed, the category on speedrun.com allows for any difficulty, and for the purpose of mechs not being absolute damage sponges while shredding my mechs in seconds due to the AI being smarter in this game.

The category for this is Bloodname% where you have to complete all 5 bloodright trials and get the bloodname ending. The only things that prevent this from being a full on 100% run is due to me only killing the first mech in trial 1 and trial 3 being skipped completely.

*Techniques*

Shutdown Slide: Jetting in a specific direction until the player reaches a certain speed, then shuts down. This glitch allows the player to recharge their fuel while jetting in a specific direction while maintaining speed. The player is also immune to collision of any kind in this state, so the player can literally slide up a mountain or just phase right through it depending on how the map is designed. The drawback to using this is that when the player starts up, there is rng involved as to when the mech will finish powering up. Sometimes it's quick, and sometimes it's slow.

Jump Jet Tapping: Allows the player to jet even after the fuel depletes by rapidly tapping the jet key. This allows the player to fly forever so long as he or she maintains that rhythm. The downside is that the jets won't recharge at all while this is done, so it's best to use when you're about to reach the area you're heading towards. Generally this is done as a final glide to wherever it is that you want to go.




*Important Note About Mech Selection*:

You can only select different mechs during the trial missions. After that, you're stuck with the mech you selected until you make it to another trial mission, or the bloodright trials. In 31cc, you have the ability to select whichever mech you want before every mission, but because the developers wanted this expansion pack to be significantly harder, they try to restrict your mech selection. The previous mechs you use are also saved in those segments. This applies to starmates as well.

The Run:

Trial on Alshain #1: They may as well call me, Legolas because I fire an arrow at my target. More specifically, an Arrow IV

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, LB 10-X AC (5T of ammo), Arrow IV (1T of ammo)

Defend on Mannedorf: I don't go to the mech lab because I use the same mech as the last mission. No need to waste menu time when you don't have to. This mission used to be a breeze, but with these new strats, it is now anything but. During startup, I set my Arrow IV to weapon group 2 so I don't accidentally fire it when I take out the raven and victor behind the ice formation. Upon leaving the bunker, I lock onto the Atlas and shoot an Arrow IV before shutting down and phasing through the wall. I get consistent results by doing this since the arrow hits the Atlas square in the face. There is a low chance he will survive, but that's what my starmates are for.... well, assuming they can hit the broad side of a barn... I restart and take out the Raven and Victor before eyeballing the Annihilator and snipe it with an Arrow IV. The Annihilator can be another issue because sometimes, even though you hit it, it refuses to die. After taking down the Annihilator, I jet slide back to the base. My alignment is awkward, so I perform the jet slide along the mountain wall and slide up hoping to get as high as I can to attack the Ravens on top of the mountain behind the bunker. The Ravens can be Q targeted, but Q targeting can be fickle at times. This was one of those cases, so I had to take a chance and fire the arrow without locking on. Thankfully I managed to take all of them out. Sometimes one can remain, and it's usually barely alive and screw the whole run up (Yeah... now you can see why this mission is a run killer now. Thankfully it is at the beginning of the campaign though.)

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, LB 10-X AC (5T of ammo), Arrow IV (1T of ammo)

Patrol on Mannedorf: I decide to take the dual UAC5 build instead of a UAC5 and LB 10-X AC build due to having more ammo and not have my rhythm disrupted by cycle shooting (one weapon fires while others don't due to weapon cooldown rhythm differences and without setting other weapons to a different group). I target the turret and hope I knock it out in time before destroying the Victor and the remaining turrets. I continue jetting past the Raven while taking it out and land in front of the Atlas. I manage to take out the Atlas somewhat quickly, but the Raven took a little longer than I would have liked.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, 2 UAC5s (6T of ammo each) 

Trial on Alshain #2: This trial requires all 3 mechs to be destroyed for the mission to succeed. I made quick work of each mech. I ended up using the Defend on Chandler build here so I wouldn't waste time switching to a different mech variant later. 

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, Small Pulse Laser, 3 Machine Guns (1T of ammo each), UAC10 (5T of ammo), LRM5 (1T of ammo)

Defend on Chandler: I immediately jet to the outskirts and take out the 2 Victors that are camping there. I don't get to close without running the risk of the mission failing due to me going out of the mission boundary. I turn around and jet back to the battlefield and take out both Victors and the Atlas there, then I jet slide through the mountain and fire some missiles at the battlesuits before the dropship comes. Q targeting the battlesuits is a nightmare to do, so I wait for the suits to power up. Because there are less of them, I jet slide the moment I lock on and fire. I generally get a lower time by doing so.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, Small Pulse Laser, 3 Machine Guns (1T of ammo each), UAC10 (5T of ammo), LRM5 (1T of ammo)

Strike on Chandler: Same business as the last run. I jet backwards, hit external camera so I can see where I'm going, go into wireframe before powering up so the missile barrage doesn't tank my game's framerate, the battlesuit ended up killing itself which has a 40% (really rough estimate) chance of happening. I take out the tanks and mechs while legging Tengwan. I do not want to kill him since the objective is to disable his mech. I jet slide towards the ravens and take them out.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL engine, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns (1T of ammo each) SRM2 (1T of ammo)

Strike on Wolcott: I T target the Hatamoto Chi, jet forward, inspect it, and jet backward back to the dropship. It's a shame that I couldn't select the incubus or firemoth as it would save about 15 seconds if I was allowed to do so.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL engine, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns (1T of ammo each) SRM2 (1T of ammo)

Circle of Equals: This new strat allows me to attack Bekker without moving at all. I zoom in and unload everything, taking him out in 12 seconds as opposed to 16-17 seconds

Mech: Stormcrow, 55XL engine, 7 UAC2s (1T of ammo each)

Raid on Jeanette: Same strat as the previous run. I destroy the 2 Horned Owls at the beginning, jet towards the next wave of mechs to my left and take them out. I jet towards the Stone Rhino and inspect all the buildings while doing so. I destroy it and then take out the 2 Incubi in a good amount of time before jetting back to the dropship. The incubi have absurd hitboxes for being relatively big mechs and being 30 tonners.

Stormcrow, 385XL, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns (1T of ammo each) SRM2 (1T of ammo)

Defend on Jumpship: Same business as before except I have a different build this time. This build has jump jets which allow me to jet outside the dropship and take out the last wave of fighters a bit earlier than normal. I do have to be careful how far out I jet though because of mission boundaries.

Mech: Stormcrow, 110XL engine, 2 jets, 2 UAC10s (7T of ammo each), Small Pulse Laser

Trial of Possession: I bring my dual UAC5 build here so I can shoot the mechs at a greater distance than that of a Machine Gun boat. It makes up for my slower speed in comparison to that of a Phantom. I take out all the mechs. I made a slight error in jetting since I ran out of fuel a bit earlier than I would have liked. I didn't lose too much time though.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, 2 UAC5s (6T of ammo each) 

Defend on Alshain: I keep the same mech from the last mission so I don't have to go into the mech lab. I jet, hit light amplification so I can see everything in wireframe. I take out every mech at a distance to about 10 or so seconds. This is a newer strat that is way more effective than a machine gun boat.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, 2 UAC5s (6T of ammo each) 

Trial on Alshain: I select a stormcrow for future missions and skip the trial since it isn't mandatory for some reason.

Underwater Strike: This mission is awful and whoever came up with the idea needs to be on watch since the person is clearly a huge sadist. I take out the first 3 mechs as quickly as I can. I have to Q target the Gargoyle while the second Linebacker drops so I can at least leg him so he can't chase me. I try to disable the second Linebacker early so I can make my way to the nav point sooner, but I didn't get a headshot or a leg, so I took a bit more time, but not too much to where it would end my run. I take a leisurely stroll in the water, taking out most of the subs, and the mechs in the underwater base mostly cooperated. I still got a decent time out of it.

Mech: Custom Executioner. I can't change the mech in this mission.

Strike on Moritz 1: Dual UAC5s again. I could have done the mission with a UAC5 and LB 10-X AC build and potentially saved a few more seconds, but I didn't want to risk it. I took out all the buildings I needed to while jetting. I ordered my starmate to take out a couple of buildings for me as well. I inspect the building that has the precious genetic repository in it and pray that some stray enemy shots don't blow it up. I jet back to the dropship

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, 2 UAC5s (6T of ammo each) 

Strike on Moritz 2: This is an example of another new strat. The Arrow IV is back, and it really helps against the first 2 Incubi in this mission. Unfortunately, the first Incubus didn't take any damage whatsoever when the Arrow IV made contact. This has roughly a 30-40% chance of happening because remember when I mentioned that the Incubus has a really wonky hitbox? Yeeeeaaaaah... but thankfully I got lucky and got it with my UAC2s while I continued my jetting momentum. Also something new that I wasn't aware of when I did this run before is that the first Naga doesn't count in the total number of enemy mechs, so I can just jet past it and not have to worry about it. This is definitely an oversight which didn't seem to get fixed in the battlepack version of this game. I don't know if this persists in Titanium though. After skipping the first Naga, I manage to take out the other mechs, Q target the second Naga and proceed through the wall and UAC2 the mechs in the cave. I jet slide to the canister, destroy the  Linebacker there, hesitate for some weird reason, then inspect the canister, fire an arrow at the Phantom that's far away rather than jet towards it and try to machine gun it, then I take out the final Phantom, run out of UAC2 ammo, but a final Arrow IV took care of it. This almost killed my run.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL engine, 6 jets, 2 UAC2s (2T & 3T of ammo), Arrow IV (1T of ammo)

Destroy Orbital Platform: The strat is very similar to the one used in the previous run except I jet all the way to the hallway at the end of the ship. There is a patch where you are technically out of bounds, but there is an invisible floor that you can stand on. I got as close as I could while being careful not to accidentally clip through the wall, take out the Stone Rhino, then jet backwards while taking out the reactor, I turn around and take out the gargoyle first since it has a bad habit of falling through the floor or walk through the walls of the ship and fall to the bottom and cost me a large amount of time. I jet off the invisible floor, take out the linebacker and then jet forward in the small pocket in between the outer hull of the ship and the interior. I take out the timberwolf as I approach the airdock on my dropship. This strat saves more than 10 seconds if done perfectly, but it is also extremely risky if the player isn't careful either, and for a bloodname run, the player can't afford to die or fail the mission. Restarting is allowed though if neither of those conditions were met.

Mech: Stormcrow, 110XL engine, 2 jets, 10 single heat sinks, almost no armor, LB 20-X AC (8T of ammo), UAC20 (9T of ammo)

Bloodright 1: No UAC20 this time. I stack my stormcrow with 2 Arrow IVs, a LRM 10 and a LRM 20. This was so the mechs would actually die in one volley. They usually do, but not always. This one did though.

Mech: Stormcrow, 55 standard engine, 2 Arrow IVs (1T ammo each), 1 LRM20 (1T of ammo), and 1 LRM10 (1T of ammo)

Bloodright 2: Same thing as last time. Mech died in one volley.

Mech: Stormcrow, 55 standard engine, 2 Arrow IVs (1T ammo each), 1 LRM20 (1T of ammo), and 1 LRM10 (1T of ammo)

Bloodright 3: The executioner survived the first volley, so I lost a few seconds because of that.

Mech: Stormcrow, 55 standard engine, 2 Arrow IVs (1T ammo each), 1 LRM20 (1T of ammo), and 1 LRM10 (1T of ammo)

Bloodright 4: 1 volley and the mech went down. The Kodiak is the most consistent of the bunch.

Mech: Stormcrow, 55 standard engine, 2 Arrow IVs (1T ammo each), 1 LRM20 (1T of ammo), and 1 LRM10 (1T of ammo)

Bloodright 5: The Grizzly usually survives, but it didn't this time!

Mech: Stormcrow, 55 standard engine, 2 Arrow IVs (1T ammo each), 1 LRM20 (1T of ammo), and 1 LRM10 (1T of ammo)

This run was a massive improvement to my last one due to all the new strategies that were found. The time difference is night and day.

I don't recommend speedrunning the titanium edition because the heat mechanic simply doesn't work on that version. Windows and DOS versions should be fine. If you emulate it, you'll probably have to adjust the cycles on DOSbox to get the correct jet recharge rate. It depends on your computer.