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: Very self-explanatory. I like to zoom before the mech powers up so I have more time to do what I need to do. I use image enhancement to see whether or not I’m doing damage to the mech in front of me. A red cursor also means that I’m in range to shoot, hence why I wait for it. Former record used a machine gun build, but this method allows for a much quicker, more consistent trial.

Mech: Phantom, 320XL engine, 8 jets, UAC10: 2 tons of ammo

• Defend on Mannedorf: I have to take out the Executioner at the beginning mainly because it’s not only in my way, but I have to try and dodge another Phantom while trying to move around the Executioner. I also needed to be careful on how I killed it because there’s a weird bug that creates a ghost mech in which even though the mech exploded, the player can still collide with it. I then go after the Atlas and Raven, take them out, then head immediately for the Annihilator and then the Raven and Victor. The final Raven wave is set on a timer, so I had to take out the mechs as quickly as possible to be able to make it to the Ravens in time. The Ravens themselves can be huge jerks. They have a tendency to stay on the top of the mountain, hide behind the side of the base, or just flat out run away. With the gravity set to the way it is for this mission, I can’t jet very high, so I can’t really take any pawn shots at the Ravens early without severely slowing down the time.

Mech: Phantom. 320XL, 8 jets, 7 Machine Guns, 1 Small Pulse Laser

• Patrol on Mannedorf: I didn’t have to mess around with the mech lab due to the game saving the last mech I used. I jet directly toward the nav point to take out the Victor before taking out the turrets. The turrets have weak armor in their backs, so I try to go behind them to take them out faster. The final mechs cooperated well enough for me to take them out pretty quickly.

Mech: Phantom. 320XL, 8 jets, 7 Machine Guns, 1 Small Pulse Laser

• Trial on Alshain 2: I switch to a Stormcrow for some added firepower, and the ability to take more hits while keeping a good speed. This trial requires all 3 mechs to be destroyed for the mission to succeed. The mechs went down really fast with the UAC10 in the arsenal.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 12 Double Heat Sinks, UAC10: 6 Tons of ammo, 3 Machine Guns, 2 Small Pulse Lasers

• Defend on Chandler: Mech lab was a bit bad. This mission went extremely well though. I can get away with a 330XL engine with the speed I’m allowed to go at in this mission due to the gravity (though I still can’t jet that high on this mission, so I have no clue what that is about). The strat is to take the 2 Victors in the horizon out first so that you don’t have to wait for them to travel over to the dropship later on. I took out my ally because the battle suits that “supposedly” get dropped off by the Draconis dropship tend to deviate from the pattern they’re supposed to walk at while my ally fires at them, and it can really slow things down. I equipped a LRM 5 on this because the battle suits’ bounding spheres are incredibly small, so trying to hit them is like trying to shoot a fly with a gun. This is also why I wait for the battle suits to power up because trying to Q target them is next to impossible. Splash damage generally kills them quickly, and the movement pattern that takes place without the ally’s interference creates a domino effect that kills all the battle suits off. I jet backward back to the nav point as I fire the missiles. I got really lucky with how fast the battle suits exploded.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 11 Double Heat Sinks, UAC10: 6 tons of ammo, 3 Machine Guns, 1 Small Pulse Laser, LRM5

• Strike on Chandler: Great mech lab. I have the SRM2 rack mainly for the battle suit just in case it doesn’t get blown up automatically by one of the tanks. Pace was pretty good and I got extremely lucky with the last Raven wave when the third one killed the second one.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns, SRM2

• 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, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns, SRM2

• Circle of Equals: This was slow due to the direction the Kodiak was moving at. It caused me to hit the arms more than I wanted to.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns, SRM2

• Raid on Jeannette: The mission went fine up until the end after I backstabbed the Stone Rhino. I had to wait a bit for my jets to recharge which costed a few seconds.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL, 7 jets, 9 Machine Guns, SRM2

• Defend on Jumpship: I take out the floating stone rhino out first just for fun. The main objective is to take out the carrier as soon as possible while it’s supposed to deploy the stone rhino. After that, I try and take out the Jaguar Fighters as quickly as possible. It’s annoying to have to wait for the second wave to power up though, but it’s understandable since the carrier is supposed to last way longer than it does.

Mech: Stormcrow, 55XL, 2 UAC10s: 7 tons of ammo, 2 Medium Pulse Lasers

• Trial of Possession: I jet through the canyon wall, and I got lucky when the first mech was destroyed by my ally, and the other mechs were lined up just right. It was a pretty solid run.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL, 7 jets, 10 Machine Guns

• Defend on Alshain: Run was fine, but I ran out of jet fuel, and I messed up the jet tapping on the final approach to the 2 Atlas mechs. I didn’t lose that much time though for it to be really noteworthy.

Mech: Stormcrow, 385XL, 7 jets, 10 Machine Guns

• Trial on Alshain 3: Nothing to say here. You can just skip this mission. I did select the stormcrow first though because I needed it for later missions.

Mech: Stock Primary Stormcrow

• Underwater Strike: Easily the worst mission in the whole game. The run was very good though. I was able to take out the mechs at the beginning pretty quickly while avoiding the torpedoes that the Linebacker fires. I wasn’t able to take out all the subs due to object limitations that the game has with ER PPCs. The inspection of the stolen mechs went without a hitch, and I didn’t get stuck on any walls inside of the structure thankfully.

Mech: Assigned Executioner

• Strike on Moritz 1: I bring a starmate with me that has 9 LRM10 racks to help me take the buildings out. The mission went smoothly aside from the Linebacker running on the wrong side of the building. I ran out of ammo toward the end, but I had a starmate.

Mechs: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 2 UAC5s: 6 tons of ammo

Summoner, 350XL, 9 LRM10s

• Strike on Moritz 2: This mission was kind of a disaster. It started off fine, but then the Naga ran in a weird direction and I ended up having to sick my starmate on it which costed some time. I then got a little sloppy on the Incubus and the second Naga as well before running into a wall. Overall though. I salvaged the run and the mission even though I almost ran out of ammo, and the run almost died.

Mechs: Stormcrow 385XL, 7 Jets, 10 Machine Guns

Summoner, 350XL, 9 LRM10s

• Destroy Orbital Platform: This mission is scary. It’s very easy to jet past the Timberwolf, or jet through the whole platform with this gravity. Thankfully, I got the alignment just right, and all the mechs cooperated. I ended up completing the mission in a decent time.

Mech: Stormcrow, 110XL, 2 jets, 2 UAC20s: 5 tons/6 tons of ammo, 2 Small Pulse Lasers

• Bloodright 1: Summoner went down quickly. No jet shenanigans.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 12 Double Heat Sinks, UAC20: 8 tons of ammo

• Bloodright 2: Timberwolf went down fast, no real issue.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 12 Double Heat Sinks, UAC20: 8 tons of ammo

• Bloodright 3: Executioner decided to jet at a bad time. I still managed to take it out quickly, but it costed a few seconds.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 12 Double Heat Sinks, UAC20: 8 tons of ammo

• Bloodright 4: The longest bloodright trial due to the Kodiak being as slow as it is.

Mech: Stormcrow, 330XL, 6 jets, 12 Double Heat Sinks, UAC20: 8 tons of ammo

• Bloodright 5: Ragnarok’s Grizzly was stubborn. It took longer to take it out than it should have, but it moved in an awkward area as it fell.

I made a few mistakes here and there, but overall, I’m really satisfied with this run, and if anyone wants to pick up on it, feel free. 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.