The save files can be found in the following directory by default.

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Mech_Engineer\data

What is saved when you copy your mech settings


f_save_slot_1
f_save_slot_2
f_save_slot_3

These are the actual save files.
You have to create a save file first for them to exist.


f_spr_slot_1
f_spr_slot_1
f_spr_slot_1


These are png images for the slots


spr_mech_v3_big_162526



This is custom coloring png of a mech with the matching ID at the end.
You can open them with a program like GIMP to view the image.




Contains settings for Sound/Music, Language, and the EarthSeed

First thing you will want to do is back up the save file to another location before you start messing with it if it's a save file you care about.

For save file scumming, i've found its easy to open the file in notepad++, play the game, and if i screw up, i exit back to the menu.

When you go back to NP++, it will tell you the file was updated and if you want to reload it. Say no, then just save the file again, you are back to where you were when you open the save in the game.


Open the file using a text editor like notepad or notepad++. You should be able to use CTRL+F to open a search for the ini settings you wish to change to quickly find the section.

The file changes every time you save your game.

CTRL+F for 'armor_layers' and change all of the values to be 500.

As you apply armor to mechs, these numbers are decreased.

[armor_layers]
end_5="500.000000"
middle_5="444.000000"
end_4="500.000000"
middle_4="500.000000"
end_3="486.000000"
middle_3="500.000000"
end_2="500.000000"
middle_2="500.000000"
end_1="500.000000"
middle_1="500.000000"
end_0="500.000000"
middle_0="500.000000"

CTRL+F for 'game_global_stats'

[game_global_stats]
day="20.000000"
year="2199.000000"
month="6.000000"
ingame_day="2.000000"

res_science_team="272.000000"
res_staff_back="144.000000"
res_staff="471.000000"

Staff is needed in order to deploy and fix your mechs. Science is less important if you unlocked everything by editing the file.




res_skalaknit="7316.000000"
res_munilon="7137.000000"
res_bjorn="9723.000000"
res_metallite="48957.000000"


today_was_battle="0.000000"

Ties in with unlocking all of the research below.

CTRL+F for 'content_components' and set all of the values that have 'unlock' in it from 0.000000 to 1.000000

[content_components]
solenoid_unlock_1="1.000000"
solenoid_unlock_0="1.000000"
magnet_unlock_2="1.000000"
magnet_unlock_1="1.000000"
magnet_unlock_0="1.000000"
safety_unlock_0="1.000000"
kernel_unlock_2="1.000000"
kernel_unlock_1="1.000000"
kernel_unlock_0="1.000000"
piston_unlock_1="1.000000"
piston_unlock_0="1.000000"
injector_unlock_1="1.000000"
injector_unlock_0="1.000000"
reactor_unlock_2="1.000000"
reactor_unlock_1="1.000000"
reactor_unlock_0="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_10="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_9="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_8="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_7="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_6="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_5="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_4="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_3="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_2="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_1="1.000000"
weapon_unlock_0="1.000000"
motor_unlock_5="1.000000"
motor_unlock_4="1.000000"
motor_unlock_3="1.000000"
motor_unlock_2="1.000000"
motor_unlock_1="1.000000"
motor_unlock_0="1.000000"
cabin_unlock_5="1.000000"
cabin_unlock_4="1.000000"
cabin_unlock_3="1.000000"
cabin_unlock_2="1.000000"
cabin_unlock_1="1.000000"
cabin_unlock_0="1.000000"
mech_unlock_3="1.000000"
mech_unlock_2="1.000000"
mech_unlock_1="1.000000"
mech_unlock_0="1.000000"







research_number_<0..33>_require_days="1.000000"
research_number_<0..33>_condition="3.000000"

CTRL+F for 'content_researches' and set all of the values from 0.000000 to 3.000000

You can set the required_days to 0, but its not needed.

0=locked
1=unlocked
2=unlocked and researching
3=researched

Forgot to turn off the tutorial before starting a game?

CTRL+F for 'tutorial' and set all of the values from 0.000000 to 1.000000

[tutorial]
defend="1.000000"
district="1.000000"
beacon="1.000000"
atom="1.000000"
battle="1.000000"
map="1.000000"
research="1.000000"
calendar="1.000000"
weapon="1.000000"
hangar_2="1.000000"
hangar_1="1.000000"
components="1.000000"
paint="1.000000"
defence="1.000000"
repair="1.000000"
electro="1.000000"
put_reactor="1.000000"
put_mech="1.000000"
eng="1.000000"

CTRL+F for 'content_hanger'

[content_hangar]

This is where the city upgrades are stored.

massive_district_<1..66>="3.000000"

This is the upgrade level of each district, valid values are 0,1,2 or 3. (0 = lvl 1)
lvl1 = 0
lvl2 = 1
lvl3 = 2
lvl4 = 3

base_life_system="0.456000"
base_wounded="1009.753610"
base_population="11739.000000"
base_food="1.000000"
base_consumer_goods="0.999141"
st_food="23478.000000"
st_goods="11739.000000"

base_number_of_parts="9932.500000"

These are the parts needed to perform upgrades of districts.

base_station_damage="0.247500"

The damage level of your station, if this gets to 1.000000, you lose.

base_station_energy="1.000000"
district_upgrade_days="3.000000"

These are the number of upgrades you can perform.

WE = Weight
SP = Speed
RE = Reload
HP = Hit points
AR = Passive Armor
MT = Max Temperature



Resistances

Fire = Heat
Blue Wave = Water Current
Finger thing = Impact




This is the number of weapons the mech can have and its current weapon type loadout.



The name of the mech. Click on the name to change it.



The icon of the mech along with:

Left: Active Armor Level
Right: Energy Shield Level



Is damaged (repair it from the engineering bay)
In maintenance (needs a day before deployment)

Above Jen is freaking out while Mark is rocking.

The red line at the bottom is the vitality.
The blue line (only when in battle) is the pilot stress. The higher this goes, the less the pilot will listen to you.

Their stat of "Stress Recovery" drives how quickly that goes down.



When they are very stressed, the bar will start to blink.

They are both freaking out and Mark is about to die.

When taking hardpoint damage, you will see the hits start to show up at the top of the Mech image.





You have infinite ammo, but reload times affect efficiency and DPS.

When using ammo, the ammo bar will go down.

While reloading, you will see a white outline go down. Once complete, that ammo type can be used again.

If you overheat, the reactor display will turn blue while you wait for the reactor to cool down. Once back to zero, the mech will function again.

Pilot area - Shows damage, what mechs are active for orders, pilot status and comms.
O2 is the Amount of Oxygen they have left (when underwater)
?t shows the seconds left of air





These are the resources you've picked up during the current mission (from green pickups).





The mini map.
Using the switch will expand the map to the battle map area.






The main battle map area






? Free Will Control 10 .. 100
Controls how much you allow the pilots to do their thing?
I've not seen a big change in behavior with the slider at 100.





Options for the current battle

Command Mode
Artillery Mode
?
Pause/Play Battle
Empty Slot?




This changes the color modes of the main battle screen.




Use this button the lock the main battle map instead of following the mechs.




Switch this on to enable retreat mode for all mechs.






This is where the Enemy Base map and controls to move through it show up.





Current Missions status and how long you have to wait before its considered clear or you've made a retreat.

First thing... ignore the fact that it looks like the pilots are doing things in real-time. It mainly just prevents you from assigning them to a mech, trainer, or hospital for a little bit of time.


Are your pilots stats not what you want?





You can actually drag them into either the Trainer, or the Hospital.


Raises Level

Raises Reaction
Raises C.B.S Test
Lowers Vitality
Lowers Stress Resistance

X+=(100-X)*0.15


Raises Vitality
Raises Stress Resistance

X+=(100-X)*0.15



When you go to the next day, the stat increase will be applied. For training, you can see the exp progress via the lighter yellow bar below their names.




Every 3 levels, the pilot gets to pick another skill

If you see a plus symbol in the upper right corner of the pilot image, they can add a new skill.

• Gives +15% Evasion
  
• Increased accuracy by 30% and gives 1% critical chance
  
• Repair allied mechs with a drone. The drone is in use at all time. Requires a drone model.
  
• Speeds up your overheating recovery by 150%. Overheating does no damage. (Super important! Get this sooner than later.
  
• Chance to return destroyed mech increased up to 75% and also returns a pilot.
  
• Once every 3 seconds, with a 15% chance, taunts all enemies for 3 seconds.
  
  
• The speed of all mechs is increased by 15% if this pilot is the commander.
  
• The reload speed of all mechs is increased by 25% if this pilot is the commander.
  
• The speed of all drones repairing is increased by 50% if thsi pilot is the commander

The pilot in the number 1 slot is the Commander.

Medals are kinda funky to give. You don't have a lot of space to work with.

After a mission is over, you have the ability to give out 5 medals to your pilots.

To give them a medal, drag it to the outside edge of the pilot picture. It has very narrow allowances.



You will want to check out the stats after each mission to help you decide of you need to change loadouts.

Are you getting many overheating events? That's damaging your mech if your pilot doesnt have the skill to prevent it.