Game News BattleTech Kickstarter Update #2: Story Campaign Unlocked, New Stretch Goals

[Excidium II]

That's irrelevant. It's turn-based combat not real-time physics-based simulation or something.

From the mouth of the beast:

“It’s a new set of mechanics, but the goal is to model it heavily on the spirit of the tabletop,” Weisman explains. Feel is more important than strict adherence to what already exists. “I designed those mechanics 31 years and not for use by computer. In some respect, we can get closer to the spirit of the tabletop without using those mechanics.”

the feels man.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Meh. It's not surprising to me that they're not modeling mechanics one to one from pnp (honestly, how many times has that ever been done?); neither a plus or a minus for me, have to wait and see how it turns out.
I like HBS though, and tbh, even though their games haven't been my personal favorites from the past few years, I think they're probably the most competently run KS-tier dev. I basically trust them to make a game that, at least in their eyes, doesn't shit all over their own source material.

And yes, I knew Weismann was CD on the SR games. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make though, as I think most people agree that the narrative/writing in the SR games were their strongest/most-faithfully-adapted-from-the-source-material part. Perhaps I misunderstood Darkzone's complaints of SR:HK and reservations towards BTech, but I interpreted them to be targeting the mechanics and gameplay, not the narrative.

 

[Excidium II]

And yes, I knew Weismann was CD on the SR games. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make though, as I think most people agree that the narrative/writing in the SR games were their strongest/most-faithfully-adapted-from-the-source-material part. Perhaps I misunderstood Darkzone's complaints of SR:HK and reservations towards BTech, but interpreted them to be targeting the mechanics and gameplay, not the narrative.

It's very good at pulling names and scenarios from the fluff that's for sure. But the portrayal of a lot stuff is not very faithful at all. Magic for instance barely works like in the TT.


Anyway the point is that having someone who originally designed the game doesn't mean it's going to be like the original game much less good. Shit, having an original designer p. much guarantees that. I'd trust a longtime player and fan way more when it comes to faithfully adapting things.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I'd trust a longtime player and fan way more when it comes to faithfully adapting things.

Well, yes, I agree with this sentiment, assuming that said fan has computer game design experience.

Regardless, I remain sanguine about this game since the 'feature' that I believe neatly hamstrung the whole SR series of games (I'm speaking of the initial tablet support for SRR) is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps this is just the narrative I'm creating for myself because I want to believe it, but it seems to me that HBS realized it was a shit idea that constrained their games in ways they hadn't anticipated (plus I don't think tablet versions sold very well).

And as others have pointed out, they're presenting BTech as having a very different focus from the SR games, time will tell if they're telling the truth, but at present I have no reason to disbelieve them. I certainly trust them more than Feargus and Fargo (not that I have a problem with Feargus or Fargo, but they sure love dat hypetrain).

 

[lurker3000]

$1.1 Million Reached! You know what that means:

Cinematic Transitions: We'll add short cutscenes for various events in game - such as deploying your forces to the battlefield - and for key moments in the single-player story.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its funny how these Stage 2 goals are making me consider retracting my pledge. I guess I'll see what happens at the next stage before deciding.

 

[Grotesque]

"We're excited that Piranha Games, creators of MechWarrior Online, are sharing their incredible roster of Inner Sphere BattleMech models with us for BATTLETECH. Not only are their 'Mechs wonderfully detailed, using the same models adds to the continuity of the BattleTech Universe."

I don't get it.
They're gonna use their 3D model assets and import them into Unity engine?

 

[Septaryeth]

SR was originally intended to be smaller and primarily designed for tablets.
This is being made primarily for desktops.
Theres some hope to be had.

So was SR:HK and yet it ended up being worse than the tabloid game Dragonfall.

But I get your point. HBS was stuck with the piss poor design of Shadowrun: Returns and there was a limit as to how much they can improve.
BattleTech sounds like a fresh start. Let's hope they don't screw it up else all hope is lost for sure.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I can't imagine a scenario where they don't reach all stretch goals.

Aliens/Purple taking over the world?

 

[Grotesque]

this has around 70 tons

and this 16 meter high thing has 100 tons

Spoiler

Seems legit

 

[Zeriel]

muh future tech magic materials

I don't actually know much about battletech fluff beyond what I picked up playing Mech Warrior 2, do they go into detail about what the tech is like, or is that all just handwaved?

 

[Grotesque]

muh future tech magic materials

 

[Azrael the cat]

this has around 70 tons

Spoiler

and this 16 meter high thing has 100 tons

Spoiler

Seems legit

I just like to imagine that it's mostly plywood under metallic paint

Actually, I'd like to see that implemented as a mechanic for once in a strategy game. Let the player to a UK-in-WW2 build lots of fake, cheap, turrets or unarmed 'metallic paint on wood' vehicles to bluff off an attack until they're ready.

 

[Infinitron]

XCOM with mechs.

With elements such as heat management and customization of mech components, it sounds too complex to be called XCOM with mechs. Maybe X-COM, the old one. Not to mention there's also non-mech units, which makes it an entirely different type of thing.

 

[Darkzone]

Uh... You do realize that he's also one of the original co-creators of the tabletop game as well, right?

No i do not mean Jordan Weisman (the creator of TT BattleTech, L.Ross Babcock's role is questionable beyond the money bag in development of Battledroids but later his contributions is certainly more present), it is Mike McCain that i talk about. While for me Dragonfall is a very nice game the Hong Kong campaign is a failure and Mike McCain as a creative director was responsible for this failure.

 

[DeepOcean]

It's very good at pulling names and scenarios from the fluff that's for sure. But the portrayal of a lot stuff is not very faithful at all. Magic for instance barely works like in the TT.


Anyway the point is that having someone who originally designed the game doesn't mean it's going to be like the original game much less good. Shit, having an original designer p. much guarantees that. I'd trust a longtime player and fan way more when it comes to faithfully adapting things.

I think they should hire Sawyer or have a MCA stretch goal .

 

[Darkzone]

this has around 70 tons

and this 16 meter high thing has 100 tons

Spoiler

Seems legit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T28_Super_Heavy_Tank
Now flip the T28 so that his front stands on the ground and with this 11.1 meter it is not so far off. Add legs for addition 18 Tonnes and 5 meter height and everything seem to fit even with low tech materials. Iron weights 7.87 g/cm^3, and matterials with lower weight per cm^3 would explain everything. Titanium has a density of 4.5 g/cm^3 and Aluminium 2.7g/cm^3. Alone the usage of Titanium and Aluminum or even the "heavy" Chromium with a density of 7.2g/cm^3 fitt the necessary requirement for the volume and hight. Light weight carbon fibres and magnesium (1.8g/cm3) compounds would perhaps even fill the entire volume of the Atlas.

 

[CyberWhale]

$1.1 Million Reached! You know what that means:

That your predictions were wrong?

Its funny how these Stage 2 goals are making me consider retracting my pledge. I guess I'll see what happens at the next stage before deciding.

It really is not only funny, but borderline retarded as well. Sure, they could have came up with better stretch goals, but having those fancy things surely won't distract from an already existing experience?

 

[ROARRR]

Actually I don´t get the rant about shadowrun! I thought it was fun roleplaying it since Shadowrun dragonfall. I understand that shadowrun Hong Kong compared with the predecessors is not a big evolvement, but it should also be indicated that Shadowrun Hong Kong is not Shadowrun 2! HB is trustworthy imo.

 

[DeepOcean]

Its funny how these Stage 2 goals are making me consider retracting my pledge. I guess I'll see what happens at the next stage before deciding.

I dunno why anyone take stretch goals seriously at this point on kickstarter, they are mostly bullshit since 2012.

 

[ArchAngel]

With elements such as heat management and customization of mech components, it sounds too complex to be called XCOM with mechs. Maybe X-Com. Not to mention there's also non-mech units now, which makes it an entirely different type of thing.

Then we will call it "Better Xcom with Mechs"

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

and this 16 meter high thing has 100 tons

Endo-steel and ferro-fibrous armor.

 

[Grotesque]

Endo-steel and ferro-fibrous armor.

Of course!
What was I thinking?

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

 

[Darkzone]

I have measured my proportions and from the 400l that my cubic rectangle occupies i take only 1/4 of the space. If we assume that the proportions of a Atlas is more 1/3 to its hight x width x depth, then around 140 cubic meter of water can fill its volume. The T28 has around 138.4 cubic meter - (X space) for the 82 metric tons. If we lower the hight of the Atlas towards 14.4 meters (16x0.9), then we are very close to 93.3 cubic meter volume for the Atlas.
But a better comparison would be a modern tank which is more compact:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-90
He has around 28 cubic meters for his 46.5 metric tons, and he is mostly made out of iron (7.87 g / cm^3). Naturaly lighter materials (Titanium, Aluminium) would result in higher cubic meters for the 46.5 metric tones. Modern amphibious armored vehicles are made partly out of magnesium alloys to lower the weight of the vehicles. Foam steels or alloys would lower also much more the weight of the vehicles. The myomer fibres could be out of carbon nanotubes which would make them also very light (pehaps even lighter than water (dependent on the structure)).

 

[Kiste]

Endo-steel and ferro-fibrous armor.

Nope, that's Clan Era shit. We're talking 3025 here.