KickStarter BattleTech Pre-Release Thread

[Cael]

The cameo appearances by famous mechwarriors and units (not the Dragoons), promised in the KS after certain goals were met, are not in the game for release. For the better imho, seemed a bit forced to have them all crammed into this Periphery tale (opponents for the skirmish mode is a different thing though, seems a better idea there)

Spoiler

The Skirmish thing, I have no objections as they are not really part of the story per se.

On the other hand, Morgan Kell was in a monastery on Zaniah from about 3017 to 3028. How did he suddenly appear in the Periphery in your little story/campaign, I have no idea.

Similarly, Justin Xiang should be on Solaris or already part of the Maskirovka on Sian "plotting" the downfall of Hanse Davion in 3025, not running around the Periphery. Old Max Liao refused to let Justin out of his sight (or off-planet) because of how good he was at his job.

I won't even go into the whole Grayson Carlyle or Natasha Kerensky thing.

Yeah, HBS is really gunning for the money now. Forget the hype about how good it is. That is no longer relevant. Next, it would be Tom Cruise as Hanse Davion and Nicole Kidman as Katrina Steiner making cameos with that Hayden Pani-whatshername as Mellissa Steiner. I think it is pretty safe to say that HBS is now PERMANENTLY on the banned list.

 

[Black]

The intro is really nice, I think that's the first thing I have to say about this game.

 

[Infinitron]

Folks who donated $25 or more to our Codex fundraiser: http://www.rpgcodex.net/campaigns.php?id=14

We've been informed that you'll be receiving your keys through Backerkit, just like regular backers:

All the RPGCodex folks that donated at the $25 level or up, were added to BackerKit and will find their rewards in their BackerKit accounts that we created for them.

Here are the directions to share so they can recover those accounts:

The game will release next week on Tuesday, April 24th and launch keys will be distributed into BackerKit accounts in the day or so leading up to that. We'll send out a Kickstarter update when that happens.

You can follow these directions to get your BackerKit account so you can copy and paste it into your gaming platform.

Go to https://battletech.backerkit.com/ and follow these instructions to recover your account:

- Enter the email address you used to back the game into the "Kickstarter Email" box and click on "Get My Survey"
- When you get the email from BackerKit, follow the link inside to your account
- When you get to your account, click on "Get Your Digital Rewards"

- Copy and paste your keys and codes into your gaming platform

Please check that it works.

 

[veevoir]

Works, though I did not get the selection for gog vs steam key (was that an option?)

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Works, though I did not get the selection for gog vs steam key (was that an option?)

Yes it was, but I wasn't in Codex fundraiser.
I took GOG key, but they've locked shipping details so it cannot be changed anymore.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Works for me.

 

[Bohr]

Hearing that when streamers get a build on the 20th there will be no more limitations on them, perhaps they won't get too far by release day anyway.

Also seems some of the XCOM youtubers etc are interested in checking the game out, I guess if the game is to sell well that could be an important market.

Spoiler

 

[Grotesque]

They made up a lot of stuff about BTech and change a lot of the rules

what stuff they made up and what rules they changed?

 

[Jason Liang]

Battletech will have the same strategic layer as American Truck Simulator.

 

[Cael]

They made up a lot of stuff about BTech and change a lot of the rules

what stuff they made up and what rules they changed?

Just about everything. Read the last, oh I don't know, 20-30 pages. Light 'mechs, for example, are now useless because they changed the way the to-hit numbers are calculated and then tried to compensate (unsuccessfully) with new rules they made up wholesale. 'Mechs are now 30m tall. 'Mechwarriors dying from their 'mechs getting cored. The entire timeline as to where famous people and merc units are. Everything. Next, they'll be telling us Kurita won the 4th Succession War and Davion lost everything.

 

[almondblight]

Regarding the debate a few pages ago about lights remaining useful, that discussion has kicked off on the PDX forums too (and was a regular on the old forums and since the original design goals for the game were announced) and I saw somewhere that the extra sensor range they had in the beta may be gone now.

Having a tonnage system is a pretty straightforward solution which would make the game more interesting. The people on the official forums seem to be mostly against that, but their reasons for being against it are pretty weak ("The official carrying capacity for the Leopard is greater than 4 Atlases so there shouldn't be a limit"/"Why should I be limited in terms of what mechs I can use?").

 

[Cael]

Regarding the debate a few pages ago about lights remaining useful, that discussion has kicked off on the PDX forums too (and was a regular on the old forums and since the original design goals for the game were announced) and I saw somewhere that the extra sensor range they had in the beta may be gone now.

Having a tonnage system is a pretty straightforward solution which would make the game more interesting. The people on the official forums seem to be mostly against that, but their reasons for being against it are pretty weak ("The official carrying capacity for the Leopard is greater than 4 Atlases so there shouldn't be a limit"/"Why should I be limited in terms of what mechs I can use?").

Wait. So, a 747 can carry 400 passengers, but because YOU believe that it should carry no more than 200, anyone pointing out that it can carry 400 automatically has a weak argument?

Can you please take a photo of yourself and post it to the Oxford Dictionary? I believe they are looking for an illustration for "stupid fucktard".

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Just about everything. Read the last, oh I don't know, 20-30 pages. Light 'mechs, for example, are now useless because they changed the way the to-hit numbers are calculated and then tried to compensate (unsuccessfully) with new rules they made up wholesale. 'Mechs are now 30m tall. 'Mechwarriors dying from their 'mechs getting cored. The entire timeline as to where famous people and merc units are. Everything. Next, they'll be telling us Kurita won the 4th Succession War and Davion lost everything.

Mechwarriors dying from mechs getting cored isn't a bad change. It'd be pretty damn hard to ever get them killed otherwise. Also I'm pretty certain Jordan just misspoke when he said 30m and meant 30 feet instead.
What's this about famous people being in the wrong place? I thought I'd been following this game pretty closely, but I haven't heard about that. Unless you mean the bonus goals that they said they're not putting in the game anyway, in which case they're not putting them in the game.

Having a tonnage system is a pretty straightforward solution which would make the game more interesting. The people on the official forums seem to be mostly against that, but their reasons for being against it are pretty weak ("The official carrying capacity for the Leopard is greater than 4 Atlases so there shouldn't be a limit"/"Why should I be limited in terms of what mechs I can use?").

I'd prefer it if lights were actually useful. Putting a tonnage limit to force you to use them is basically admitting they're shit, since if they weren't you'd use them by choose instead of needing incentives. It's too bad. They tried to make them good with the initiative/evasion bonuses they get, but it doesn't seem to have been enough. They're not even the weak mechs that you start with then upgrade from, since in this game you start with 3 mediums already. Light mechs in this game will just be for enemies to use. And you very briefly with the Spider as your fourth mech, until you get another medium and throw it away.

 

[Cael]

Just about everything. Read the last, oh I don't know, 20-30 pages. Light 'mechs, for example, are now useless because they changed the way the to-hit numbers are calculated and then tried to compensate (unsuccessfully) with new rules they made up wholesale. 'Mechs are now 30m tall. 'Mechwarriors dying from their 'mechs getting cored. The entire timeline as to where famous people and merc units are. Everything. Next, they'll be telling us Kurita won the 4th Succession War and Davion lost everything.

Mechwarriors dying from mechs getting cored isn't a bad change. It'd be pretty damn hard to ever get them killed otherwise. Also I'm pretty certain Jordan just misspoke when he said 30m and meant 30 feet instead.
What's this about famous people being in the wrong place? I thought I'd been following this game pretty closely, but I haven't heard about that. Unless you mean the bonus goals that they said they're not putting in the game anyway, in which case they're not putting them in the game.

Problem with 'mechwarriors dying from being cored is that the 'mechwarriors are not in the same location. Cored is a CT hit. The 'mechwarriors are in the head.

In the real game, there are many ways for pilots to get killed. Ammo explosion, Gauss rifle explosion, the mere fact the head got hit (doesn't have to penetrate the armour), the 'mech falling down, even ejecting, all either do damage to the pilot or has the potential to do so. This doesn't count the 'mech's head getting blown off entirely or the cockpit getting hit in a critical hit scenario. In TT, BTech is absurdly lethal to 'mechwarriors. There is a 1 in 36 chance of getting hit in the head, and when you are talking PPC or AC10, even the heaviest 'mech is in trouble with a possible critical hit straight off the bat. Lighter 'mechs would be even worse off (a Jenner would have it's head practically taken off with a large laser hit). An AC20 would take the head straight off any 'mech, killing the pilots with no recourse. IN the Clan era, things become even worse, with Gauss Rifles and Clan ER PPC coming into the mix as pure headcappers and Clan Large Laser of either type being potential cockpit killers. This is one of the reasons why the Masakari/Warhawk is feared more than the Daishi/Dire Wolf. The damned thing has 4 headcappers as its primary armament.

This factor becomes far worse when you are talking campaign style games, where you take the same 'mechwarriors through a series of combats, with each 'MechWarrior facing perhaps hundreds of hits during the campaign. The chances of 'mechwarriors surviving a long campaign is not high, even without the whole coring thing.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

In the real game, there are many ways for pilots to get killed. Ammo explosion, Gauss rifle explosion, the mere fact the head got hit (doesn't have to penetrate the armour), the 'mech falling down, even ejecting, all either do damage to the pilot or has the potential to do so.

These are all in this game too (except gauss explosions, obviously), and it's still not that lethal, even though mechwarriors have way lower HP than they do in CBT. You aren't that likely to have enough ammo hits/knockdowns on one particular mech in a single mission to kill anyone. Headshots work, but I'm not sure cockpit crits are in, so the only headcapper is the AC20.
I prefer it like this. It's good that your guys are in danger if the CT gets taken out instead of just letting them eject no problem.

 

[Cael]

In the real game, there are many ways for pilots to get killed. Ammo explosion, Gauss rifle explosion, the mere fact the head got hit (doesn't have to penetrate the armour), the 'mech falling down, even ejecting, all either do damage to the pilot or has the potential to do so.

These are all in this game too (except gauss explosions, obviously), and it's still not that lethal, even though mechwarriors have way lower HP than they do in CBT. You aren't that likely to have enough ammo hits/knockdowns on one particular mech in a single mission to kill anyone. Headshots work, but I'm not sure cockpit crits are in, so the only headcapper is the AC20.
I prefer it like this. It's good that your guys are in danger if the CT gets taken out instead of just letting them eject no problem.

Ammo explosion is 2 damage each. Head hits are 1 damage. Falling down has the potential to do 1 damage and 20 points of damage in a single round is enough to trigger a Piloting check. Fail and down she goes. Ejecting has the potential to do 1 damage.

A TT 'MechWarrior has 6 hit points. Each point of damage triggers a consciousness roll with increasing difficulty. At higher damage levels, you will basically lose a 'mech for the duration due to an unconscious pilot. Losing a pilot, even temporarily is BAD. In a real BTech game anyway. Not the easy as piss monstrosity that is being presented to us.

There are good reasons why I implemented a Luck mechanic into my TT campaigns and my players always have every 'MechWarrior buy 3-5 luck points at the expense of increasing skills and keep them at that level.

EDIT: Headcapper depends on the 'mech. A PPC or AC10 is a headcapper to a Jenner and many of the light 'mechs.

EDIT2: The primary reason I am against cored = death is because in TT, there is a 7 in 36 chance of the CT getting it, and the CT has a special TAC thrown in, which could result in an engine going bye-bye (cored). Getting cored is practically the default 'mech killing setting. Again, that is based on TT. The dumbasses at HBS has already basically thrown the TT rules out the window.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

The dumbasses at HBS has already basically thrown the TT rules out the window.

Yeah, they did. They said from the very beginning that this wasn't a CBT clone. I'm not sure why you were expecting it to be.
Out of all the things to complain about, I don't think how mechwarriors take damage is one of them. It seems okay in this game. There are lots of things I dislike but that's not a problem.

 

[Cael]

The dumbasses at HBS has already basically thrown the TT rules out the window.

Yeah, they did. They said from the very beginning that this wasn't a CBT clone. I'm not sure why you were expecting it to be.
Out of all the things to complain about, I don't think how mechwarriors take damage is one of them. It seems okay in this game. There are lots of things I dislike but that's not a problem.

Injured is not a problem. A starting 90% chance of getting killed is.

Remember that cored is not the same as the engine going nova. If that was the figure for the engine going nova, I'd say fair enough.

 

[lightbane]

Price point of $40 seems kind of high for a kickstarted HBS game.

That price raise is suspicious indeed. Hopefully it won't affect Codex backers.

Folks who donated $25 or more to our Codex fundraiser: http://www.rpgcodex.net/campaigns.php?id=14

We've been informed that you'll be receiving your keys through Backerkit, just like regular backers:

Cool, I'll wait a while until the game is published though, just to be sure.

In the real game, there are many ways for pilots to get killed. Ammo explosion, Gauss rifle explosion, the mere fact the head got hit (doesn't have to penetrate the armour), the 'mech falling down, even ejecting, all either do damage to the pilot or has the potential to do so.

Yeah, pilots were quite squishy in TT, if IIRC even stuff like running in a straight line has the risk of the pilot knocking himself out by the sudden motion. I guess safety belts are lost-tech. That, or the cabin is THAT cramped.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

Injured is not a problem. A starting 90% chance of getting killed is.

It's harsh, but I still don't mind it. The game is pretty generous about a lot of things. This is one of the only times when it doesn't seem to be taking it easy on you.
The thing that confuses me is the way it's possible to survive headshots. I don't even understand why they bothered with that, seeing how you only have a 10% chance even with maximum guts. It's so unlikely it may as well be impossible.

Yeah, pilots were quite squishy in TT, if IIRC even stuff like running in a straight line has the risk of the pilot knocking himself out by the sudden motion.

I don't recall anything like that. It's possible to fall and lose consciousness from that if you fail at piloting when trying to run in the wrong terrain or with a damaged gyro, but aside from that you're good.

 

[Cael]

Injured is not a problem. A starting 90% chance of getting killed is.

It's harsh, but I still don't mind it. The game is pretty generous about a lot of things. This is one of the only times when it doesn't seem to be taking it easy on you.
The thing that confuses me is the way it's possible to survive headshots. I don't even understand why they bothered with that, seeing how you only have a 10% chance even with maximum guts. It's so unlikely it may as well be impossible.

Yeah, pilots were quite squishy in TT, if IIRC even stuff like running in a straight line has the risk of the pilot knocking himself out by the sudden motion.

I don't recall anything like that. It's possible to fall and lose consciousness from that if you fail at piloting when trying to run in the wrong terrain or with a damaged gyro, but aside from that you're good.

Not running per se, but if you are running and get hit for more than 20 damage, the Piloting check becomes harder to pass. There are Piloting checks for kicks and DFA that if you fail, down you go, but I don't think HBS implemented physical attacks.

I don't mind if they are harsh on the hardware. But I tend to have issues when people get involved. Like I don't mind getting equipment blown up or losing loot, but if I lose characters, I tend to reload.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

There are Piloting checks for kicks and DFA that if you fail, down you go, but I don't think HBS implemented physical attacks.

They did. There's just one generic melee attack instead of punches/kicks/charges though, and there's no penalty if you miss. DFA does stability damage to you so you can fall down from that, I think.
The lead dev said they wanted you to go through a certain number (I can't remember how many, and it was somewhere on twitter so it's hard to search for) of mechwarriors in a playthrough, so they're meant to be dying semi regularly. I'm sure you can avoid any deaths if you try hard (and load when you get really bad luck), but you're meant to be having some people die at least.

 

[Kem0sabe]

No amount of mods will fix the shit campaign.

 

[Cael]

No amount of mods would fix the shit RULES.

Generic melee attack? Light 'mechs functionally useless? Lore all thrown out the window? Pilots dying from a shot to another part of the 'mech? Movement doesn't mean squat when trying to hit something?

The only thing BT about this game is the title. This is worse than Fallout Shelter.

 

[Cael]

The lead dev said they wanted you to go through a certain number (I can't remember how many, and it was somewhere on twitter so it's hard to search for) of mechwarriors in a playthrough...

More retarded design right there. They might as well make choo-choo noises while they are at it.

A SCRIPTED DEATH would be less insulting.