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MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries by Piranha Games - now on Steam and GOG

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https://mw5mercs.com




https://af.gog.com/game/mechwarrior_5_mercenaries?as=1649904300
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/mechwarrior-5/home



First story-based single player MechWarrior game in years.

The year is 3015.

Humanity has expanded to the stars, colonizing a vast region of space known as the Inner Sphere. Where the Star League once ruled in relative stability, generations of countless wars, alliances, and betrayals have divided the Inner Sphere into five distinct Successor States. These states, also known as the Great Houses, have fought and quarreled for centuries over the remnants of the Star League and control of the Inner Sphere. They are now in the midst of a Third Succession War, one which has been raging for almost 150 years.

While the battlefields of the Inner Sphere burn with an array of devastating weaponry, none is more formidable than the BattleMech. These immense fighting machines, piloted by elite fighters known as MechWarriors, dominate the wars of the future with enough firepower to annihilate entire cities.

In MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries you will adopt the role of a rookie MechWarrior pilot thrust into combat as the Third Succession War continues to fracture the Inner Sphere. Take contracts from the factions of your choosing and engage in tactical, first-person, PvE ‘Mech combat through an immersive, career-based Mercenary campaign driven by player choice. Victory, prestige, and profit will not only require skill on the battlefield, but in the acquisition, maintenance, and enhancement of your BattleMechs.

Set for release in 2018, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is under development by a dedicated development team at Piranha Games. MechWarrior Online, Piranha’s existing F2P multiplayer-focused tactical ‘Mech combat game, will continue its ongoing live development by the MWO team at Piranha.
 
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someone else

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Will Mechwarrior 5 suck too?
 

Astral Rag

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Could be interdasting

I'm glad to see that they're using Unreal Engine 4.
 

Dayyālu

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3015?

This mean in full Mechwarrior-Dark Ages. I chuckled at the "500 years old mech" thing. Lore-wise the Inner Sphere was almost Warhammer40k levels of "we have lost tech capabilities".

Physics look like crap, graphics are adequate and ..... well, it's a Mechwarrior SP game.

I HAVE WAITED FOR YEARS FOR THIS
 

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The reason why no one can capture how MW2 felt in 1995, is because it was programmed by a guy who wrote flight simulation software for the military. He had some serious health problems, hope he's still alive. Then someone smart could hire him to code physics for the new game.
 

Dayyālu

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Yeah, I fail to see the simulation aspect of this. This just looks like another slow shooter with terribly corny voice acting. This game adds nothing new to the FPS roster.

There hasn't be a "simulative" PC mech game since Heavy Gear 2. Considering Dream Pod 9 is almost dead despite Kickstarters, and that ALL mechwarriors or mechwarrior clones (Starsiege) embraced the "casual" gameplay style, I can't even see from where they could get expertise to build a good one.

It's not like military sims are faring much better, though. Again, I'd love a "mech simulator", but I'll take what I get, considering it has been 15 years or so since the last SP mech game and MWO is crap by structure.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Well, I'm not that enthused by a new MechWarrior game because quite frankly as a mecha sim franchise it is hopelessly average and completely fails to compare to, say, Heavy Gear 2 or even moreso [insert flame-war starting favourite entry here] Armored Core games. I'm considerably more hyped about the fact Miyazaki is directing the development of Armored Core 6 (since he was the director of my personal favourite in the series, For Answer) and there's been some quotes from him here and there which suggests they want to take things to strange new places and levels, which to me is like thinking of an Armored Core game with an open world design. If it happens, iz I in heavanz?

But hey, at least I've liked the aesthetic realization of BattleTech in MWO, even if I don't have much interest in team PvP games, so it'd be nice to see what it can be used for in single player.

3015?

This mean in full Mechwarrior-Dark Ages. I chuckled at the "500 years old mech" thing. Lore-wise the Inner Sphere was almost Warhammer40k levels of "we have lost tech capabilities".
I think you mean full BattleTech OG. IMO it's probably the best decision on part of Piranha and HBS to set things in the Fourth Succession War at first, since the Succession Wars is by far the most interesting period of BTech's setting, after Operation Bulldog it's not really worth much since all that Blakist shit and whatnot doesn't have soul.

EDIT: Also it's not so much that Inner Sphere lost tech capabilities by simply being a gaggle of retards led by a dangerously incompetent individual (seriously, it's actually hilarious how BAD at doing anything Emprah is), but moreso a natural consequence of three hundred years of total war where since the very first pre-emptive strikes the key targets have been industrial and scientific sites. IIRC the First Succession started when House Kurita launched pre-emptive atomic bombardment of any major industrial world they could to cripple their enemies logistics. Things got worse because everyone else did the same. The Succession Wars were each unrestricted war where over several decades each time the participants would completely exhaust their HUMAN reserves, the entire reason peace periods between Succession Wars happened was because everyone had to give their subjects a good while to get jiggy with it so they could get new generations of cannon fodder.

Another thing of course is that ComStar is an active sabouteur across the Inner Sphere that has tried to use covert means to preserve its secret technological superiority and until Big Boss stopped them had a secret goal of dominating the Inner Sphere (and I suppose Clans too).
 
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spectre

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How much simulation you want exactly in a game about robots that are questionable both from the stanrpoint of physics and their actual usefulness for military action?

The video does a poor job at showing this , but there's more to it than a slow paced shooter. You have locational damage (you can see how he's using torso twists to spread out the damage received), long range sensor management and heat management,
there's also plenty going on in managing the loadout for each mech as well as your teammates in a lance of four.

I played their Mechwarrior Online for some time a few years back, it was a pretty shity experience overall because that is to be expected from a pvp team based game with random guys and no proper lobby, but it did scratch that itch for mechwarrior action.
They made quite a lot of compromises to adapt the game for online pvp and some of them quite cretinous from the simulationists perspective, like doubling mech HPs across the board to keep light mechs useful, instead of... dunno, giving them an actual stuff to do.
All in all, MWO was closer to a team arena brawl than any sort of "simulationist" game. I am hoping they know how to dial it back up again.

Anyways, from what I remember, they have the tech to deliver good presentation, but I am slightly worried if their tech is up to scratch when it comes to map size. Multiplayer maps pretty were tiny (I guess that's one of the compromises I had talked about earlier),
to the extent that you seldom went out of range of long range radars and LRMs.
That aside, most of in-game assets, ballistics and mech systems are pretty much done, it remains to be seen if they can handle the AI, and more importantly, writing and campaign design.
I can already hear they have mixed luck for VA talent, so Id' rather remain cautious.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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I would argue that the fundamental gameplay problem for MechWarrior has never been the degree of simulational aspects present, map size, or any of that sort. It has always been a single issue: Speed. Or maybe I should use agility instead, but overall point is that MechWarrior games are too heavily locked into a fairly static decisive battle of circling (or in case of MechWarrior 3, exploiting the fuck out of Clan Ultra AC20's or flamers). To put in simple terms, the problem is that Mechs cannot DODGE or otherwise do rapid tactical maneuvers. Even directional jump jets are far too slow to turn the tide.

Considering that canonically in BattleTech one of the advantages of a BattleMech over conventional vehicles is supposed to be the fact they are all-terrain vehicles that can perfectly mimic organic movements thanks to their myomer muscle construction as well as exert manual force equal or above its own mass, it's always the thing that gets most overlooked in adaptations because the tabletop only truly managed to model this when Triple Strength Myomer exploiting became a thing. Basically, the canonical reason for the dominance of the BattleMech is not just the fact its durability and firepower rivals that of tanks and AeroSpace fighters, it's the fact the BattleMech can navigate any terrain AND it knows kung fu. An example of trying to represent the style would be that no, the fight between a single Medium BattleMech and a Von Luckner tank column would not be a stand-up shootout. The Von Luckners would be tactically helpless and get reamed hard. There's not much a limited mobility tracked vehicle can do when the BattleMech DFAs them one by one as it jumps over hills and forests before reaction can be mounted, or if it can exert enough manual force to flip a Von Luckner to its side and use it as a makeshift barrier and battering ram against the others. The BattleMech is stronger and faster as a physical entity,

Similar to how the Achilles' Heel of the Clans that's completely absent from vidya adaptations is Zellbrigen. In MechWarrior games everyone fights like a Trueborn cockfag adhering to Zellbrigen, and in desperate need of a reminder that a charging Atlas kicks/punches/rams/bodyslams more devastatingly than Ultra AC20... Or that nothing says certain kill than a direct hit with DFA on a Heavy or Assault. And that's before you even remember the fact that the tabletop rules have as far as I know never gotten around to actually reflecting the fact Atlas and its variants are supposed to be absurdly strong physically even for 100 tonners (tech readouts have flavour text describing how Atlas is uniquely capable of lifting other 'Mechs off the ground without effort and tossing them about like toys).

EDIT: So in short, IMO what MechWarrior needs is moar speed, and an indepth hand-to-hand combat engine. And for Jaime Wolf or Big Boss to instruct sometime before Tukayyid that Clan MechWarriors only know how to fight as MechWarriors, and have completely forgotten how warriors fight (or animals, if you want to play the whole irony of Clans using animal motifs but being a society completely divorced from state of nature).
 

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Sarna.net seems to be the best (only?) wiki for BattleTech related stuff. I keep reading that as Vaarna.net


EDIT : Also, checked up what 'Zellbrigen' is suppose to be. Found this gem -

Certain actions taken during a duel are considered dezgra and an opponent who engages in them too often can render the fight void. These include intentionally moving out of the line of sight of an opponent, intentionally moving out of weapons range of an opponent, or failing to fire a weapon at the opponent if capable of doing so, although even these may be acceptable if tactically appropriate.

Wtf? :lol:
 

Dayyālu

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Well, I'm not that enthused by a new MechWarrior game because quite frankly as a mecha sim franchise it is hopelessly average and completely fails to compare to, say, Heavy Gear 2 or even moreso [insert flame-war starting favourite entry here] Armored Core games.

Call me when I get Armoured Core for PC.




I think you mean full BattleTech OG. IMO it's probably the best decision on part of Piranha and HBS to set things in the Fourth Succession War at first, since the Succession Wars is by far the most interesting period of BTech's setting, after Operation Bulldog it's not really worth much since all that Blakist shit and whatnot doesn't have soul.

Ahh, yes, I forgot the naming conventions. The Dark Ages are another thing entirely. Being fairly neutral regarding the setting and having no emotional interest in any factions or books, I find the Word a very interesting faction of sci-fi terrorists wth nukes. Plus the battle between cyborgs with spiky mechas and genetic-freaks from the Clans was a nice idea.

But again, good if you don't look too close. Like everything in BT.


EDIT: Also it's not so much that Inner Sphere lost tech capabilities by simply being a gaggle of retards led by a dangerously incompetent individual (seriously, it's actually hilarious how BAD at doing anything Emprah is), but moreso a natural consequence of three hundred years of total war where since the very first pre-emptive strikes the key targets have been industrial and scientific sites. IIRC the First Succession started when House Kurita launched pre-emptive atomic bombardment of any major industrial world they could to cripple their enemies logistics. Things got worse because everyone else did the same. The Succession Wars were each unrestricted war where over several decades each time the participants would completely exhaust their HUMAN reserves, the entire reason peace periods between Succession Wars happened was because everyone had to give their subjects a good while to get jiggy with it so they could get new generations of cannon fodder.

* lore *

The Emprah is our Shield and Protector, and I haven't read a single piece of Wh40k lore since 5th ed so I don't know how they mauled the Emprah. Not that I care, GW's writers went otaku mode long ago. But the point is, from the general point of view both BT and Warhams had heavy similarities in their '80ies kitchen sink with lost tech design, heavily copying from Asimov and British comics.

EDIT: So in short, IMO what MechWarrior needs is moar speed, and an indepth hand-to-hand combat engine.

I can already hear the screeching of the fans. Won't happen. Nothing in Battletech from military standpoints makes any sense: ATGMs woud eviscerate BT-level tech with ease. But it's silly to talk realism with mechas.
 

anus_pounder

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Behead those who don't side with the Capellan Confederation. Probably the best part of the upcoming battletech strategy game is that we can finally side with the real good guys and protagonists of the BTech universe, House Liao.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Yea, the blatantly ripped off stuff clearly comes from shared sources, like how both Warham and BT stole liberally from Dune.

But anyway, my joke regarding Emprah being dangerously incompetent is that for having so much handed out to him on a golden spoon by the setting, he still manages to completely FAIL at every single endeavour he embarks on. So my headcanon is that Emps is actually retarded to the point that HE is the true threat to mankind's survival through nothing but sheer dangerous incompetence.
 

Vaarna_Aarne

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Well, I'm not that enthused by a new MechWarrior game because quite frankly as a mecha sim franchise it is hopelessly average and completely fails to compare to, say, Heavy Gear 2 or even moreso [insert flame-war starting favourite entry here] Armored Core games.
Call me when I get Armoured Core for PC.
Definately would, FROM needs your money, FROM deserves your money!

EDIT: So in short, IMO what MechWarrior needs is moar speed, and an indepth hand-to-hand combat engine.

I can already hear the screeching of the fans. Won't happen. Nothing in Battletech from military standpoints makes any sense: ATGMs woud eviscerate BT-level tech with ease. But it's silly to talk realism with mechas.
Hence why IMO it's best to do a simulation of rule of cool of your given stripe. But I think it's also a matter of preference to a more intense and skill-focused gameplay, since a more agile basic fighting style can not only facilitate a greater emphasis on intense combat it also enables for a more varied and nuanced arsenal and qualities for weapons (a good example being the way fire control systems affect your gameplay in Armored Core and how in mech to mech combat things like accuracy, muzzle velocity, and staying power are also large factors to outfitting the machine).

And of course, because many of the BattleMechs (even if I often try to brainbleach the original artwork for the franchise from almost its entire history) have a kind of brawler or pro wrestling aesthetic to them and their more heavy and stocky construction. Where as something like a Core or a Gear would use a handheld blade or similar, with BattleMechs I think the go to on-hand approach would be more like a boxer or a wrestler.

Similar thing is that MechWarrior games have a thing for... Underselling the machine you are piloting. It's not supposed to be just a vertical tank. The BattleMech is a walking fusion reactor powering a skeletal mount for artificial musculature that has well over 1:1 mass:strength ratio, with excess power output used to fire lasers or particle beams. An active BattleMech running combat heat is not a walking tin can, it's a superweapon venting scorching jets of vapor from its heat sinks as its armour gradually starts to glow from running the fusion engine at maximum output so it can blast its surroundings apart with a non-stop bombardment of lasers and PPC thunderbolts. And it's not some locked hip stiff, it perfectly mimics the human body's movements through the Neurohelmet. I suppose for reflecting the fact the machine can replicate the agility of the human body an indirect control scheme like the one used in Armored Core games is better for presentation, given obvious limitations of a direct shooter interface to things like adjusting center of gravity, forcefully braking, or tracking the target with head and arms.

Also, checked up what 'Zellbrigen' is suppose to be. Found this gem -

Certain actions taken during a duel are considered dezgra and an opponent who engages in them too often can render the fight void. These include intentionally moving out of the line of sight of an opponent, intentionally moving out of weapons range of an opponent, or failing to fire a weapon at the opponent if capable of doing so, although even these may be acceptable if tactically appropriate.

Wtf? :lol:
And that's why when some Jade Falcon or Smoke Jaguar asshole sporting Enhanced Imaging System tattoos talks smack to you, you dropkick him in the cockpit and tell him that a Trueborn doesn't know how to fight like a MAN. In fact, I think it's a huge missed plot point on BattleTech's part not to realize that given all the features of a standard BattleMech, they never seemed to notice that an OmniMech would have a real Achilles' Heel in being a product of Zellbrigen. Namely: An OmniMech would get pulled apart by a proper BattleMech in hand-to-hand combat, each module ripped off or shattered one by one because the OmniMech lacks all of the myomer structure. A good example would be the fact that a standard chickenwalker OmniMech would be completely unable to engage or resist a humanoid BattleMech once the latter starts punching its head in or kicking it off balance, especially because Clanners cannot fight WILD.
 

lightbane

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TL; DR: Giving Mechs the ability to use melee weaponry and such besides the standard sci-fi guns would improve gameplay a lot, regardless of how non-sensical and inane it sounds. I agree, but that would require effort, something which is unlikely to happen with this particular game.
 
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I would argue that the fundamental gameplay problem for MechWarrior has never been the degree of simulational aspects present, map size, or any of that sort. It has always been a single issue: Speed. Or maybe I should use agility instead, but overall point is that MechWarrior games are too heavily locked into a fairly static decisive battle of circling (or in case of MechWarrior 3, exploiting the fuck out of Clan Ultra AC20's or flamers). To put in simple terms, the problem is that Mechs cannot DODGE or otherwise do rapid tactical maneuvers. Even directional jump jets are far too slow to turn the tide.
mw4 player here. number 1 in 90% of the games with uller and owens among assaults, way before lighter mechs got a score bonus with mw4mercs.
you need maps suited for lights, maps with lots of small bumps. most of the people is convinced that urban maps are for light mechs because "dude, close combat, duh", but it's actually quite suicide because you have to scan for the enemy only on the x axis and in a way or another you always know where the enemy is going to come from.
and also you need max speed, you can't settle for anything slower than 150 km/h. unfortunately i couldn't try this in mwo because buying a new engine for a light mech would have cost me several weeks playing non-stop. pure insanity.
 
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EDIT : Also, checked up what 'Zellbrigen' is suppose to be. Found this gem -

Certain actions taken during a duel are considered dezgra and an opponent who engages in them too often can render the fight void. These include intentionally moving out of the line of sight of an opponent, intentionally moving out of weapons range of an opponent, or failing to fire a weapon at the opponent if capable of doing so, although even these may be acceptable if tactically appropriate.

Wtf? :lol:
Those are just game rules to prevent people exploiting the duelling system by challenging a mech and then running away all game so they never get to do anything, since you're not allowed to freely switch targets once you've declared a duel. If you want to follow zell then basically all you need to do is fight 1v1s only, and avoid cheap shit, and you're basically done. You can even get away with some minor cheap shit if you want, as long as it's not too egregious.
The point is to show off how good a warrior you are. Beating someone by teaming up with your friends to outnumber them doesn't prove anything. Beating someone by trickery like luring them into a minefield doesn't prove anything. Beating someone in fair 1v1 does show you're better than them. Just it doesn't work against the IS because they only care about winning, not looking good, so whoops.
 

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EDIT : Also, checked up what 'Zellbrigen' is suppose to be. Found this gem -

Certain actions taken during a duel are considered dezgra and an opponent who engages in them too often can render the fight void. These include intentionally moving out of the line of sight of an opponent, intentionally moving out of weapons range of an opponent, or failing to fire a weapon at the opponent if capable of doing so, although even these may be acceptable if tactically appropriate.

Wtf? :lol:
Those are just game rules to prevent people exploiting the duelling system by challenging a mech and then running away all game so they never get to do anything, since you're not allowed to freely switch targets once you've declared a duel. If you want to follow zell then basically all you need to do is fight 1v1s only, and avoid cheap shit, and you're basically done. You can even get away with some minor cheap shit if you want, as long as it's not too egregious.
The point is to show off how good a warrior you are. Beating someone by teaming up with your friends to outnumber them doesn't prove anything. Beating someone by trickery like luring them into a minefield doesn't prove anything. Beating someone in fair 1v1 does show you're better than them. Just it doesn't work against the IS because they only care about winning, not looking good, so whoops.

But that's the thing though, isn't it? Can you blame the IS for just caring about winning? Isn't that what War is all about? What does it matter if you're the champion of 1v1 honor duels when in a real fight, your dumb ass steps on a mine. It just seems like a lot of effort for no real benefit. Something like mock battles in real battle conditions (or as close as you can get) seems like a better use of time.

I'm no military expert or historian either, so I digress.
 

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