Academies, Traits, and Hero Pilots

Greetings Mercenaries,

Shadow of Kerensky drops September 3rd! The Launch Trailer is coming this Friday… and we’re not done revealing features and content yet!

This DLC is massive - the Inner Sphere sandbox is about to change all over again. Here’s just a taste of what’s coming:

• 12-Mission Campaign with full story cinematics
• 16 Clan ‘Mechs + Clan Tech
• OmniMech Mech Lab support for OmniSlots + Mixed Tech loadouts
• The Bull Shark chassis
• The Atlas II Hired Steel Collab
• 13 New IS Variants
• 4 New IS Weapon Types
• 17 New Biomes
• Inner Sphere map update with Clan Territories
• Hero Pilots + Traits

Now, we know that last one looks like it’s buried at the bottom of a very long list. But don’t sleep on it - Hero Pilots, Traits, and Academies might just be the sleeper feature of this DLC.

For today’s blog, Torry put together a deep dive (with fresh screenshots) to show you why this system could end up being one of the most impactful additions to MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries.

Check out “Academies, Traits, and Hero Pilots” for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Shadow of Kerensky

 

Academies, Traits, and Hero Pilots

Shadow of Kerensky brings with it a significant overhaul to pilots in Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries. Included in the free update, pilots may have traits. Shadow of Kerensky DLC owners will also gain access to two major additions to the pilot system: Academies and Hero Pilots. 

Traits

As part of the free update launching with the release of Shadow of Kerensky, pilots can now have Pilot Traits. A variety of reward pilots and the occasional pilot for hire will have traits. Pilot Traits vary from mech affinities that improve mobility, weapon expertise that improves performance with specific weapon types, to a variety of economic bonuses under some circumstances. Low level pilots also have a chance to come with negative traits with drawbacks that also reduce their hire cost and salary.

 

Academies

Academies are spread around the inner sphere and offer a range of programs from simple sim pod training to multi-year training programs. Each training program can award a mix of experience, skill cap increases, and/or chances to learn new Pilot Traits. The rewards vary per Academy and training program. Quick sim pod training at a Virtual World Center, for example, might only reward a small amount of experience towards the pilot’s skills. Meanwhile, a graduate program at The Nagelring will offer some experience, a moderate chance at skill cap increases, and a high chance of gaining multiple traits.

Academies can be found all throughout the Inner Sphere.

Each Academy offers a mix of training programs, including multi-year programs.

Once training is complete (or if withdrawn early), players get a report card of what the pilot gained.

Hero Pilots

While traveling throughout the Inner Sphere, Shadow of Kerensky owners will encounter “Elite Pilot Available” callouts in industrial hubs. The Barracks at these locations will have either a bespoke Hero Pilot with custom dialogue and portrait or a randomly generated one. In either case, these pilots will come with high skill caps and a variety of traits--including the possibility of having Hero Traits. Hero Traits provide either bigger bonuses than standard traits, a wider variety of applicable mechs/weapons, or unique options not available to standard traits. All pilots marked as hero pilots also have a chance to gain additional hero traits when gaining traits via training at Academies.

Additionally, several reward pilots from the base game and previous DLCs have been tagged as hero pilots, allowing them to potentially gain hero traits via Academy training.

Elite Pilot Available at this industrial hub. These appear at a similar rate to hero mechs.

Rachel is one of the bespoke Hero Pilots available in Shadow of Kerensky. Arena Specialist is a Hero Trait.