Game News BattleTech Kickstarter Update #40: Backer Beta Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: BattleTech; Chris Klimecky; Harebrained Schemes

After an unfortunate two and a half month delay, Harebrained Schemes have finally released the BattleTech backer beta, now with the publishing support of Paradox Interactive. Actually delivering it to backers involves sending out 25,000 Steam keys, so if you pledged for a beta tier, it may take you a while to get one. As explained in a Kickstarter update published last week, the initial release of the backer beta will only include a single player Skirmish mode, with PvP multiplayer support to be added later. Today's update has the pertinent details, including a link to the game's manual:

With swirling heads, sweaty palms, and soaring hearts, we are pleased to announce that the BATTLETECH Kickstarter Backer Beta is ready, and keys will start arriving later today!

Distributing 25,000 Steam keys into BackerKit accounts will take hours, so please be patient! WHEN YOUR BETA KEY LANDS IN YOUR ACCOUNT, YOU WILL GET A NOTIFICATION EMAIL DIRECTLY FROM BACKERKIT.

As noted in our last update (which included a Beta FAQ), today’s release contains single-player Skirmish mode ONLY. We will automatically update the Beta with PvP multiplayer as soon as it's ready and let you know with another Kickstarter update.

So How Do I Get Started?!

Instructions for getting your Steam Key from your BackerKit account, downloading the game, and how to play the game are located in your Backer Beta PDF Manual (which you can start studying up on while you’re waiting for your notification email from BackerKit to arrive!) Since this isn’t the finished game, our Backer Beta does not include an in-game tutorial. You’ll likely have way more fun and be able to give us better feedback if you understand how things work, so it’s highly recommended that you review the PDF Manual before your first game.

BTW, you can also view the manual in-game at any time by clicking the “Help” button on the Main Menu.

What We Need From You

We hope you enjoy this first taste of our BATTLETECH game and we want to learn from your experiences playing it. So what do we need? MEASURABLE DATA! After EACH battle, you’ll get the opportunity to give us your feedback in a short 1-page survey on a variety of topics - controls, audio, AI, maps, tactics, and more - so be sure to take as many surveys as possible.

And plan to fill out the same survey more than once! We fully expect your answers to change over time (that’s an important part of the feedback process) so don’t skip a survey because you’ve seen the questions before. This is the best, most helpful way to positively impact the project and help us make the game better for everyone. (Yes, it’s even more helpful than reporting bugs.)

The other way to get us your feedback is to join the BATTLETECH Forum. The Backer Beta Discussion sub-forum is the place where you can expand on your experiences playing the game and share your constructive criticism with others. While the dev team won’t respond to feedback or engage in debates, we’ll definitely be reading and learning from your conversations.​

A number of websites have published previews of the BattleTech beta, apparently from PDXCON. These include Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer and PCGamesN. Their impressions are very positive - it looks like Harebrained might have a real winner on their hands. If you have access to the beta, please share your impressions with us. I wonder what Ulminati is doing these days...

 

[l3loodAngel]

Will start testing in the evening. This might be the only KS I won't regret backing. I just hope they killed all the white scum and now Maories, Ethiopians/Persian bureaucrats and Black Egyptians(because why da fuck not?)/East Goths rule the galaxy.

 

[skyst]

The beta shows a lot of potential in the few battles that I played.

You're basically limited to 4v4 skirmishes in this build. My Battletech experience is limited to the 90s PC games but I felt comfortable with the mechanics and UI by early in the second match. The first match was a real massacre without realizing that weapon heat was a thing and that I could switch individual weapon systems off and on. Terrain seems to be crucial both in setting up encounters around favorable terrain to block lines of fire and to have your mechs positioned in cover. Standing in water seems to fully negate weapon heat in this build, which I expect will be changed soon.

Mech damage is well done and fights quickly escalate into broken, battered mechs desperately slamming into each other; combat feels really brutal and dirty. However tactical options feel limited, especially at range, and I worry that combat may feel stale sooner than one would expect from this type of game. In a match where I chose to fight exclusively at mid-long range, my turns were nothing but backpedaling a bit and shooting which was pretty boring and probably too effective. Short range is much more fun and far riskier with basically no pay off.

The mech's each have around a dozen targettable and destroyable components. Critical hits can explode ammunition stores, damage the pilot, missiles often destabilize the mech, all kinds of snazzy random effects. However, the game lacks a combat log which would do a lot in explaining where exactly your hits are landing and what they're doing - it can be difficult to keep track of which missile or which of your lasers of various sizes are doing what.

 

[l3loodAngel]

^ agree with what the above poster said.

Played trough some battles. So far I like the game and I believe it has the potential to be good or even great.

AI plays well and does some smart stuff like staying out of range, moving out combat when necessary, using jetpacks etc. Which is a nice surprise compared to other games, where AI is usually useless.

I like the mech dmg effects, however, I think that if the mech is knocked down the punishment is to hard, because other mechs can target any part and basically destroy the mech. Thus, I believe that the punishment is too harsh for being knocked down. Maybe just somewhat increasing THC chance and not almost 100% THC chance to hit the cockpit.

Melee and short range have basically no bonuses. Therefore, the best range is mid game wise. I would like to see more deadly melee (bigger THC and increased knock down chace or smthing/maybe 2/3 hits but with lower dmg to increase actual THC/or aiming for actual body part) and short range (maybe increased crit in short range). Additionally, adding snares or other crippling effects which could make the whole dynamic less stale and more challenging.

I would also love to see more effects from cover/half cover etc.

 

[Black]

My Battletech experience is limited to the 90s PC games

without realizing that weapon heat was a thing and that I could switch individual weapon systems off and on.

 

[skyst]

My Battletech experience is limited to the 90s PC games

without realizing that weapon heat was a thing and that I could switch individual weapon systems off and on.

Next time, I'll try harder to keep track of the rules for games I last played ~20 years ago.