I have a few good buddies who may want to try a co-op run, but I don't know if it's fair to have a lance (all 4) vs only 2 humans. (Or even 3 people in game).

Either way, I'm glad I found this! We've been wanting to hop into MW5 again, so this is a great opportunity to jump back into an unmodded run!

Cant see any reason why not, With only 2 runner's there isnt any reason to not be liberal with the rules and get more people running the game. The mod for MW5 hasn't been online for over 2 months though, So be patient if you guys make a submission and im sure they will get around to it eventually.

I personally started running MW5 a few weeks ago, My advice is to route and path a way through the campaign before starting, There are alot of options when it comes to building rep and shortcuts can be taken if you plan a decent route, Also my advice is too not move to assualts to early in the campaign as in mission speed saves the most time, some mission sit in the 15 - 20 minute range and taking a 80+kph mech can really cut those times in half.

As for DLC I have been personally running Kestral and thats it, Seen as though its a free DLC and pretty much just an update, I figure its ok to use, Its missions make the run ALOT nicer so I think of it more as QOL then anything, The added HERO RNG is also a nice little bonus for mixing runs up.

Yeah, we're thinking of playing around a bit before doing a full run attempt, since it IS 12 hours or so. I'll let the rest of my guys know Kestral is probably fine too. Thanks for the advice on not rushing heavies/assaults too soon. We were wondering about that too. I am a light mech pilot all day, but I know you eventually gotta up that tonnage to survive.

I'm excited to see what we can path out, and it should be fun! (We probably won't run it until end of the month at the earliest, but it should be good).

For streaming everyone, do you have a suggestion, or should I just have us all stream/record, and then we'll just add each person's viewpoint later in a follow up combined video? (With each of our own separate recordings as well for proof, but audio from only the primary player's PC)

12 hours is no where near what is possible, I have personally routed paths well under 7 hours if executed perfectly solo, A 4 man run with a short route should be able to see 5-6 hour runs depending on early RNG with mechs and execution.

I don't stream, I just record my runs and upload to YouTube, But I would recommend just editing all 4 POV's together afterwards, Although I would argue all 4 POV's are not really needed for a valid run, Thats not my call to make, So including all 4 is a safer option.

Im excited too see what you guys come up with and im happy to have some company while I run the game (Although im running solo category)

That makes sense. We'll see what we can figure out on the coop run! Makes sense for the stitching the 4 POVs. I'd add whatever we have just to be safe. We have 3 guaranteed, maybe 4, so I'm excited to see your solo run too!

Oh - one more thing. Are you playing the tutorial or not as part of the run? Co-op already requires me to play a few missions solo until the rest of the team can come online, so if we skip the tutorial, that saves some time where it's only 1 player.

Skipping tutorial is kinda an option now since they added the option in the menu, I know the current WR did complete it, But in my eyes there is just no need with the updated additional ways to skip it, If there was an exploit that allowed us to skip it we would use it, So with that in mind I see no reason to include it in the run, The game is already sitting on 6+ hours minimum, I don't want to add more time to the run...

so... the main campaign, enemies spawn and drop at pretty much the same locations every time. use that. there are a couple of missions where you can also manipulate where the dropship offloads as well. on the heavier missions or missions where enemies are tanky, get good at headshots. in co-op, the guy that is hosting worries about jumping form system to system, the rest of the lance needs to build up mechs. keep in mind, cash flow as you are editing mechs a lot of the time in warzones. in game time does not matter just real time, so if a meh is finished being edited in the system you are about to drop in, go ahead and advance time to use it. also in regards you your team building your mechs, make sure they know what builds you like to use and also your weapon groups. it is a pain doing weapon groups while in a mission.

also, tutorial skip saves you about an hour of game play... wish that was an option when i did that 13hour grind.

i have been thinking about doing another co-op run. but i just dont have the time.

Time is a huge factor...

These Marathon runs are crazy but alot of fun to prep for. All my trial runs are sitting around 8-9 hours with plenty of time to save, The issue is finding a spare 8-9 hour stretch in my week so I can run it and record it in 1 sitting, Not to mention running segmented practice runs is no were near as demanding as staying on target and focused for 8+ hours straight. With MW5 Clans announced and coming soon, I feel now is the time to run MW5.

that is what i did before the first DLC came out. having the tutorial skip can certainly make the run take less than 10h. hitting 9 seems really difficult and 8h run seems to be leaning on the edge of insanity. but good luck with it. i had a ton of fun prepping for my run.

oh... one other thing. you need to manage you drops so your reputation hits 10 in a timely fashion. avoid defense and war zone contracts and try to stick to raids and assassination. those you can just run in and out without having to wait for the enemy to drop on you.

so a little more info with some of the things i look out for. because your starting year is early. good tech is really rare. so i tend to keep an eye out for light hero mechs to strip em for double heat sinks, then sell back the chassis

i just thought of it. if you are playing with DLC, you can build decent rep & cash up with infiltrate missions pretty quick. keep a few fast medium and light mechs and make sure to keep 1 mech available to hit the drop zone once you hit the reqs for the mission. the infiltrate missions also allow you to hit up the harder difficulties with better payouts.