Heavy Gear

Heavy Gear II Strategy

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Full disclosure: I'm pretty frikkin' bad at this game. Not as in badass. Bad as in I'm crap at it. Unlike Interstate '76 or Mechwarrior Online, I didn't put in the hours of competition and experimentation to get good. So, with that being said, here are a few tips for the single player game:

  • There is no difficulty level to select. At the beginning of the game, you pick a single gear, and you are stuck with that gear for the entire game. This is your difficulty level. The lighter gears (Hunter) will not be able to take many hits before it goes down, especially in later levels. On the other hand, the Kodiak can. I'd say to at least go for the Jaguar or Mamba.
  • Gears, to me, feel super fragile. I guess that's part of the point. So, crank up the armor values in the gear editor. Also, I feel like the default setups don't pack the punch that I want out of weapons. My solution? Crank up the fire control. This is probably dumb, but even in the early game with low threat values, you can strip off most of the weapons, ditch that Zero-G system, and still crank up the fire control to 3 while staying under that max threat value.
  • As far as weapons, I like the bazookas, particularly the heavy one, but I can't seem to aim for shit in this game. The autocannons tend to treat me better — they fire faster, have less of a lead, and still do some good damage. Plus, even a medium auto cannon with a fire control of 3 will get you plenty of ammo and decent damage, especially early in the game. Have enough room to make it a heavy AC? You'll have a good time.
  • Press X a couple of times to extend your radar range. Sometimes you'll pick up on an enemy that wouldn't show up otherwise. Fortunately, the radar runs in passive mode by default, but you may want to periodically toggle Active on and off. Usually a quick blip on/off is enough to pick up on enemies that are incognito without completely giving you away.
  • Around mission 4, you'll be able to bring nearly a full squad with you. I think it's worth it to bring as many squad mates as you can. Odds are that those piloting the lighter gears will eventually bite the bullet. But, any time you can gang up as a group on a target, the odds will be in your favorite. One on one is at best, even. Five on one and you've got the upper hand. Set up a keyboard shortcut that you like (<ctrl>+A for me) and tell all of your comrades to fire at the same target as you. Plus, some of the enemies might decide to target your teammates instead of you for once.
  • I hate the space missions. It's the controls. You spend most of the game learning that a certain button means forward (8 in the default setup) and backwards (3 in the default), then suddenly those same keys mean rotate up and down while forward and back shifts to something else. Basically, I have no good advice except practice, let your squadmates battle, and maybe use the cheat codes to get through. Because, hey, if the mission sucks, don't play it — spend your time on the fun parts!
  • Or, maybe it's better to modify the controls just for space? Maybe mapping the typical forward and bck to throttle up and throttle down is the way to go.
  • Higher fire control values will increase the damage you cause, as well as the stated effects. So, a fire control 2 isn't just adding a leading reticle, but adding a damage bonus as well.
  • In the upper right corner of the cross hair, there's the range finder. If it's red, whatever's beneath the reticle is beyond the range of your current weapon. If it's green, you're good to go.
  • When moving, janky and erratic motions will through off your enemy. Is an enemy having no problems leading their AC fire on you? Tap your movement keys (as opposed to just holding down they key) to introduce some jank and throw off their aim.
  • Not sure what to do in a mission? Be sure to read the Heavy Gear II walkthrough here at Local Ditch Gaming.

Last update: 3/15/25
Created: 2/1/25