MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries/High Reward Quests

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries/High Reward Quests

Overview

Half-way between the common procedurally generated Contracts and the story progressing Campaign Missions, High Reward Quests are partially pre-scripted missions with increased dificulty and enhanced rewards.

Similar to the BattleTech video game's Flashpoints, MW5's High Reward Quests are mini-campaigns, ranging from one to multiple missions tied together in a single story, relating to background topics from the BattleTech universe or mercenary moral quandaries related to the conflict between duty to the contract or honorable conduct. Unlike Multi-Mission Operations, each High Reward Quest mission does not have to completed consecutively and will generally take place across multiple systems inside the same Conflict Zone. High Reward Quests will list the C-Bill and Reputation rewards they offer openly, but will hide any enhanced additional rewards until the completion of the final mission - though the list of them below exposes this.

While most quests are for a single employer, some quest strings give the player the option of completing missions via one of two opposing employers, for example two of the warring Great Houses, with the player warned they will only be able to select one to pursue. Some quests additionally have this choice to change faction in the middle or at the final mission, again the player can only select one path to take.

Though High Reward Quests feature scripted lines from the Cavalier Operations Officer Ryana Campbell and specific events, they are not fully scripted like the campaign missions so still have a degree of variability in map design and enemy 'Mech selection in each playthrough or even if a mission is restarted.

Much like the Campaign Missions, High Reward Quests require the player to reach the specific Reputation Level of zone in which they are hosted. However, unlike the Campaign missions, High Reward Quests are entirely optional and can be skipped. They do not expire so it is possible to return to them later, indeed even after the Campaign is completed, though their rewards, difficulty and tonnage restrictions do not scale and are static.

A list of the available High Reward Quests in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, broken down by Reputation level, follows:

Reputation 3

"Armed Robbery" - Pascagoula - Mercenary Row Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: With numerous mercs pulling out of the Mercenary Row, Sebastian Spears of Interstellar Expeditions offers the Cavaliers a contract to strike one of the withdrawing Harlock's Warriors 'Mech repair depot for much needed supplies for his clients, attempting to overcome their reservation about hitting a fellow mercenary unit by offering the desperate Cavaliers a healthy cut of the resale value.
• Rewards: 78,125 C-Bills, 70 Reputation, LCT-3V Locust, one Tier 2 Medium Laser.
• Mission 1: 135 Tonnage Limit 7 Difficulty Assassination Mission on Pascagoula to kill the much despised Harlock's Warriors' head of security Anders Willman, which will convince the rest of the Warriors to bug out.

Reputation 4

"Picking up the Pieces" - Keytesville - Inferno's Wake Cluster

• Mission Brief: In the wake of Black Inferno's drive through the region, the pirate Vogel's Vandals have taken advantage of the situation to raid now defenseless farm worlds. A Coalition of Farmers have pooled their meagre funds to hire the Cavaliers to deal with the pirate threat.
• Rewards: 0 C-Bills, 105 Reputation, CDA-2B Cicada (in poor condition), on Tier 2 LRM-10
• Mission 1: 210 tonnage limit Difficulty 14 Defense Mission on Keytesville to protect valuable farm equipment needed for the imminent harvest.
• Mission 2: 230 tonnage limit Difficulty 18 Assassination Mission on Macomb to eliminate the pirate's leader Victor Vogel to end the threat and drive the rest of the Vandals off once and for all.

or

"Picking at the Scraps" - Keytesville - Inferno's Wake Cluster

• Mission Brief: Raid the farmers to distract the local militia so you can rob their planet blind.
• Rewards: 568,125 C-Bills, 105 Reputation, three Tier 3 Medium Pulse Lasers, four Tier 3 Small Pulse Lasers, seven Single Heat sinks, eight Class V Jump Jets
• Mission 1: 210 tonnage limit Demolition Mission on Verde against a Coalition of Farmers complex
• Mission 2: 210 tonnage limit Raid Mission on Quincy against a Coalition of Farmers comm center

Reputation 5

"Frontline Support - Davion" - Marlowe's Rift - Davion/Kurita Frontline Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Federated Suns is seeking Mercenaries to engage in support missions for their invasion thrust into the Combine.
• Rewards: 348,500 C-Bills, 260 Reputation, PNT-9R Panther, Tier 2 PPC
• Mission 1: 230 tonnage limit Raid Mission on Marlowe's Rift against First Amphigean Light Assault Group defended communication towers to assist the Davion offensive.
• Mission 2: 230 tonnage limit Demolition Mission on Misery against a McGee's Cutthroats firebase to end their raids against Davion supply lines.

or

"Frontline Support - Kurita" - Marlowe's Rift - Davion/Kurita Frontline Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Draconis Combine is seeking Mercenaries to engage in support missions for their defense against the Davion invasion thrust.
• Rewards: 348,500 C-Bills, 260 Reputation, SDR-5K Spider, Autocannon 10 Burst Fire Tier 3, SRM 6 x2 Tier 2
• Mission 1: 175 tonnage limit Difficulty 20 Demolition Mission on Bergman's Planet against a 41st Avalon Hussars command post.
• Mission 2: 175 tonnage limit Difficulty 20 Raid Mission on Gandy's Luck against a 41st Avalon Hussars ammo depot.

Reputation 6

"The Traitor" - Ronel - Davion Borderlands Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Draconis Combine hires the Cavaliers to track down and kill two high value defectors who have crossed into Federated Suns space to show the fate of those would betray House Kurita.
• Rewards: 337,250 C-Bills, 450 Reputation,
• Mission 1: Assassination Mission on Ronel to kill Tai-i Hester Troy, now serving in the Blue Star Irregulars mercenary unit.
• Mission 2: Assassination Mission on Tigress to kill Sho-sa David Osumi, now serving in the Crater Cobras mercenary unit.

"A Cunning Decoy" - Barstow - Shipping Lane Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Cavaliers are hired by Avalon Shipping to serve as bait, garrisoning insignificant targets whose location has been leaked to try and lure pirates away from the real ones.
• Rewards: 1,250,000 C-Bills, 450 Reputation, two Tier 3 LRM-5, two Tier 3 Machine Gun, ten Single Heat Sinks.
• Mission 1: 290 tonnage limit Difficulty 36 Warzone Mission on Listowel to draw Jessup's Avengers away from Avalon Shipping's latest large shipment.
• Mission 2: 290 tonnage limit Difficulty 36 Warzone Mission on Listowel against Castell's Pillaghers responding to the false intel about Avalon Shipping's fake depot.

Reputation 7

"Industrial Espionage" - Ares - Rashpur-Owens Manufacturing Worlds Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: Seeking to drive the last surviving Capellan DropShip manufacturer out of business, Davion-based DropShip builder New Syrtis Shipyards is undercutting the prices of vessels built by Rashpur-Owens Incorporated, additionally negating the losses by illegal smuggling goods over the Davion-Liao border in the newly built vessels intended for Capellan buyers. Rashpur-Owens hires the Cavaliers to destroy key NSS facilties used in this trade to put a stop to the scheme.
• Rewards: 312,554 C-Bills, 658 Reputation, VND-1R Vindicator
• Mission 1: 290 tonnage limit Difficulty 45 Raid Mission on Bethel to destroy facilities housing important components used to maintain New Syrtis Shipyards fleet of Mammonth-class DropShips utilized in their smuggling efforts.
• Mission 2: 290 tonnage limit Difficulty 45 Demolition Mission on Ares to destroy the transfer station used by New Syrtis Shipyards to sell to the Confederation under the table.

Reputation 8

"The Cerberus Hounds" - New Westin - Sian Commonality Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Capellan Confederation hires the Cavaliers to defends the descendants of the Cerberus Hounds, a group of former Federated Suns MechWarriors who defected from the 9th Avalon Hussars in 2862. After over a century of living within the Confederation, their location has been discovered by the Federated Suns who are now determined to destroy them.
• Rewards: 340,554 c-bills, 1,044 Reputation, five Tier 3 Small Lasers, one Tier 3 Large Laser
• Mission 1: 230 tonnage limit Defense Mission on New Westin to protect the Cerberus Hounds from attacking FedSun forces.
• Mission 2: 230 tonnage limit Warzone Mission on Grand Base.

"Errant Signal" - Egress - Backwater Region Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Capellan Confederation has detected a weak coded signal coming from a planet on the Liao Periphery border that should be uninhabited. Though they are unable to decode the message, the Cavaliers are hired by the Confederation to investigate what is a suspected pirate or wildcatter colony.
• Rewards: 350,000 C-Bills, 1,0044 Reputation, one Tier 0 Gauss Rifle, one Tier 0 LB 10-X, five tons of Gauss ammo, 4 tons of LB 10-X ammo, five Double Heat Sinks
• Mission 1: 320 Tonnage Limit Difficulty 60 Raid Mission on Egress that sees the Cavaliers sent to destroy the illegal colony's communciation relays only to encounter heavily armed House Davion defenders.
• Mission 2: 320 tonnage limit Difficulty 60 Warzone Mission on Repulse to strike the deciphered source of the errant transmissions - a House Davion strike team armed with New Avalon Institute of Science prototype weapons preparing for raids against Capellan industrial systems to field test the LosTech equipment.

Reputation 9

"Chasing Ghosts" - Watermael - Vacant Worlds Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: Baron Ishmael Stroud hires the Cavaliers to follow-up on rumors of the fate of his son, thought lost for over a decade in suspected pirate space.
• Rewards: 20,905 C-Bills, 1,467 Reputation, two Tier 3 Large Pulse Lasers, one Tier 3 ER PPC, one Tier 4 Small Pulse Laser, one Tier 4 Anti-Missile System and three tons of AMS ammo.
• Mission 1: 315 tonnage 67 Difficulty Raid Mission on Watermael to destroy the pirate's storage facilities holding their loot to search for clues and weaken them.
• Mission 2: 315 tonnage 67 Difficulty Demolition Mission on Gouderak to strike at pirates base in the region.
• Mission 3: 315 tonnage 70 Difficulty Assassination Mission on Vakarel against the leader of Ravid's Reckoning - Ravid Stroud himself.

"Defending the Honor" - Kearny - Free Worlds Commerce Hub Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Cavaliers are hired by Gibson-born elements of the Fourth Regulan Hussars serving as the honor guard for Count Derrick Cameron-Jones convinced that traditionalists who view those from Gibson as traitors to Regulus will launch a false-flag attack during a good will tour to prove they are unworthy of the position.
• Rewards: 1,290,905 C-bills, 1467 Reputation, one Tier 3 LRM-15, one Tier 3 PPC, three Tier 3 Medium Lasers.
• Mission 1:350 Tonnage Limit 70 Difficulty Defense Mission on Kearny as the Cavaliers must protect the base where the Count is currently being guarded
• Mission 2:350 Tonnage Limit 70 Difficulty Warzone Mission on Mauripur to stand between the rogue elements of the Hussars and the Count's evacuation DropShip.
• Mission 3:350 Tonnage Limit 70 Difficulty Assassination Mission on Diass with the Count sending the Cavaliers to eliminate lead conspirator Daxa Mahat to teach the dissidents a lesson.

Reputation 10

"The False Flag" - Colfax - Steiner/Marik Border Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: Following a dual SAFE and Lyran Intelligence Corps investigation, the Lyran Commonwealth suspects an unknown party of attempting to provoke a war by raiding both sides of the Free Worlds League/Lyran Commonwealth border using 'Mechs painted in the colors of the other nation.
• Rewards: 305,750 C-Bills, 2500 reputation, one Tier 3 AC/20, one Tier 3 LRM-10 and four Tier 4 SRM-2s
• Mission 1: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Defense mission on Colfax against a "House Marik" raiding force.
• Mission 2: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Warzone Mission against "House Marik" forces on Nestor.
• Mission 3: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Assassination mission to kill the Draconis Elite Strike Team leader Tai-i Jules Tanaka to put a stop to the false flag attacks.

"Shipping Disruption" - Kilarney - Free Worlds League Shipping Lane Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: A joint venture on the production of Land Trains centuries ago has proven highly successful for both Gienah Automotive and DuraPaq Solutions, but the terms are heavily biased toward DuraPaq who get the lion share of the profit. The Cavaliers are hired by an aggressive Gienah Automative executive seeking to secretly strike at DuraPaq facilities, damaging them enough to cause delays that would trigger contract penalty clauses that would "rebalance" the flow of profit more favorably toward Gienah.
• Rewards: 304,825 C-Bills, 2500 Reputation, one AC/10 Burst Fire, one Large Laser, four Small Lasers
• Mission 1: 315 Tonnage Limit 70 Difficulty Demolition mission exclusively against DuraPaq's transport facility on Kilarney, damaging the Gienah built Land Trains will render the contract null and void.
• Mission 2: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Raid Mission against communication relays on Schereville to prevent a spy leaking word to DuraPaq that Gienah was behind the Kilarney strike and avoid shattering the joint venture entirely.

Reputation 11

"The Shadow Coup" - Eaton - Lyran Strongholds Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: An anonymous group of Lyran officers are offering contracts on the lives of Lyran Guards "Social Generals" in order to prevent needless deaths of soldiers by ineffective leaders.
• Rewards: 305,275 C-Bills, 2500 Reputation, two Tier 3 PPCs and Capt. Louise Fenstrom
• Mission 1: 360 Tonnage Limit 80 Reputation Assassination Mission on Veckholm to kill Colonel Angus Kempf while he's engaged in pointless parade in his overly equipped assault 'Mech.
• Mission 2: 360 Tonnage Limit 80 Reputation Raid Mission on Leganes to kill Lt. General Stevens, hiding in his regimental HQ.

"A Dragon in Sheeps Clothing" - Tomans - Steiner/Kurita Border Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: With the ISF learning of rumors of an alliance between Houses Steiner and Davion, the Cavaliers are hired to raid Steiner outposts masquerading as a Davion unit to spoil any such relations.
• Rewards: 444,856 C-bills, 3250 Reputation, DRG-1N Dragon
• Mission 1: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Demolition Mission on Tomans to destroy an Arcturan Guards forward base while broadcasting Davion IFF codes.
• Mission 2: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Demolition Mission on Bessarabia to destroy a Arcturan Guards defended ice-mining complex as "House Davion" to allow the ISF to hack Lyran communications to discover the route of secret Davion caravan.
• Mission 3: 340 Tonnage Limit 75 Difficulty Raid Mission on Cusset to destroy the meeting site of Steiner and Davion envoys while masquerading as House Steiner forces to try and shatter any lasting Steiner-Davion alliance.

Reputation 13

"Charity Case" - Predlitz - Drought Worlds Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: A humanitarian-aid mission from the Inter-System Advocacy has gone missing in the Drought Worlds region, with the Cavaliers hired to attack the pirate band suspected of being responsibile, only to be dragged into a much more murky situation involving early Succession War WMDs and a population pushed too far.
• Rewards: 850,750 C-bills, 4500 Reputation,
• Mission 1:400 Tonnage Limit Difficulty 95 Raid Mission on Predlitz to destroy the bandits' comms towers as a distraction, allowing the ISA to access bandit communications to search for clues to location of the lost volunteers.
• Mission 2:400 ton 95 difficulty Raid on Polcenigo to smash the Bandits' command center in this region to impact their effectiviness while hopefully providing leads on the whereabouts of the ISA volunteers
• Mission 3:400 ton 95 difficulty demolition mission on Luzerne to shatter ancient ruins housing chemical weapons the fanatical locals are using to as levarage against their rulers to free the ISA volunteers held hostage.

"Pirate Hunt" - Irece - Draconis Badlands Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: Incensed at repeated ill-treatment by the DCMS, Rasalhagian Tai-sa Luukas Ranta of the First Altenmarket Militia has gone rogue, forming a pirate band around those troops loyal to him to strike the Combine. Wishing to eliminate this embarrassing problem before any other members of the showcase Altenmarket Militia might rise up and shame the Coordinator, the Cavaliers are hired to kill Ranta and his subordinates.
• Rewards: 3,202,500 C-bills, 4500 Reputation, one Gauss Rifle, one ER Large Laser, one Large Laser, 3 tons of Gauss ammo.
• Mission 1:400 Tonnage Limit 95 Difficulty Assassination Mission on Irece to eliminate Sho-sa Shane Shimizu, one of Ranta's subcommanders, to liberate a captured farm.
• Mission 2:400 Tonnage Limit 95 Difficulty Assassination Mission on Outer Volta to eliminate Ranta's second in command Chu-sa Lucius Ueda, to lure Ranta into the open.
• Mission 3:400 Tonnage Limit 95 Difficulty Assassination Mission on Unity to eliminate Tai-sa Luukas Ranta himself.

"The Strength of Tradition" - Hermagor - The Graveyard Conflict Zone

• Mission Brief: The Lagom-gumi yakuza clan approach the Cavaliers to protect the region from pirate attacks from the Periphery after attempts to convice the DCMS to do so have failed, but are they really doing it out the kindness of their hearts or the secure the loyalty of the populous in return for yakuza protection.
• Rewards: 410,000 C-bills, 7860 Reputation, two LRM-15s with Artemis IV, two SRM-6 with Artemis IV, one Ultra AC/5, four tons of SRM Artemis ammo, four tons LRM artemis ammo
• Mission 1:400 Tonnage Limit Difficulty 90 Defense Mission on Hermagor to protect a civilian outpost from the Werewolf Legion pirate band
• Mission 2:400 Tonnage Limit Difficulty 90 Demolition Mission on Susquehanna to destroy the base of the Bredäng Gang pirate band before they can strike another defense less populace.