KickStarter BattleTech Pre-Release Thread

[Sinatar]

From that I want to know what downtime is planned for mech repairs and refitting. Five days until this piece of shit is ready for ops, sah!

If they are planning the dropship upgrades to take time, you'd think that mech repair/refit would also.

Well they've mentioned numerous times now that the pilots can be injured and have to sit missions out so I imagine Mech repairs would be much the same.

I mean they are trying to make Mechs-COM here.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Backer mission reward livestream #2 on Youtube

 

[Infinitron]

Matt Chat:

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

From that I want to know what downtime is planned for mech repairs and refitting. Five days until this piece of shit is ready for ops, sah!

Didn't they have that blogpost about their idea of a repair system where you can either repair normally (slowest), jury-rig (faster, has penalties), or replace the broken part entirely (fastest, obviously most expensive)? That sounded p cool.

 

[Fairfax]

Updated stats:

(This is from my post earlier in the thread, back in the campaign's 3rd day)

This is what it looks like now:

Notable changes:

The shipping costs (or pure money addons) were ~4.06% of the total funding. The difference between the sum of all base pledges and total funding is now 6.31%.
Assuming the shipping cost ratio remains the same, the difference in this percentage can be considered the purchase of add-ons.
That difference amounts to $45,644 spent on add-ons. A great result, if you ask me.

Only 4 new $2000 backers, from 46 to 50. This is because it's a limited tier and it's gone now. The total number of backers increased ~51%, and this increase can be seen in most tiers, including the $1000+ ones, except $2000.
$1000: +45%
$4000: +66%
$10,000: +100%
$2000: +8.69%

I think they might've missed an opportunity here, but it's still insane number, as I'll explain below. If the $2000 had the same average increase, that would amount to an extra $38,000. On the other hand, it is possible that the number of $2k backers was frontloaded and wouldn't be much higher regardless, but the tier is gone, so they can't buy it.

It's still a tremendous success for the $2000 tier. Just to put this into perspective:

Shenmue III, the most successful KS game to date, had just 28 backers in the $1800-$2500 range. Bloodstained had 20.
This means Battletech, despite the fact it's currently at less than half the funding of these games, has more backers in the $2000 range than the two most successful KS combined.
After Shenmue III and Bloodstained, the most successful KS campaigns had:

• Torment: 9
• Eternity: 0 (no $2k tier, but 7 at $3k)
• WL2: 2
• MN9: 0 (14 at $2500)

Even if you consider the more expensive tiers from the games above, they had 32 backers combined, or a total of $78,000.
Battletech has $100,000 from $2k backers.

Here's the rest of comparison:

• $1: +51.4%
• $25: +56.8%
• $35: +45.2%
• $50: +35.4%
• $125: +45.1%
• $275: +56.6%

The way I see it, the $50 tier increased way below average because they added the $85 tier, which definitely helped.
The $275 increase was above average and remains roughly 1/4 of the campaign's total funding, a remarkable result that's keeping the average pledge at $67.
Looking back, this may not be a nice thing to say from a consumer perspective, but I think giving away the soundtrack and the artbook at $35 might have been a bit too generous.

Overall the campaign is doing really well, and I still believe they should add other HBS games as add-ons, rewards or whatever, but it's doing great. The only thing holding it back is the fact it's very much a limited audience.
However, it's a very passionate fanbase, and the numbers speak for themselves. D:OS2 needed 42,713 backers (BT has 30,262) to reach the level of funding Battletech has at the moment, for instance.

 

[Rhapsody'n Blue]

^ Great post, Fairfax.

 

[Infinitron]

khavi Prepare your ale mug:

Alcohol-Fueled Live Stream Unlocked! And a Peek Behind the Curtain at The Sartorial Designer!

The BATTLETECH Kickstarter campaign had a strong weekend. We added over 500 new Backers bringing our total number above thirty thousand! And so far, we have over 500 folks talking about their favorite ‘Mech using #favBTmech!

And that means our studio’s collective nightmare has come true. The Global BattleTech Community has unlocked an Alcohol-Fueled Live Stream Twitch Session with Jordan Weisman, Mike McCain, and Mitch Gitelman to kick off the final 24 hours of the campaign.

Uh oh.

Now don’t just show up with #BATTLETECH questions for this one. You can ask “da boys” anything from how games are made, to their best game convention experience, to how the studio really works…

Tell your friends! Make it a date! Drink along!

We are now thisclose to $2,150,000 and unlocking Legendary 'Mech & MechWarriors in the Stage 3 Extended Mercenary Campaign! Um... tell your friends about that, too!

Go, go, go!


And now, a Peek Behind the Curtain at the Best Dressed (Male) Developer at HBS...

He wears two-toned shoes, too.
House or Company Affiliation: Eridani Light Horse

Callsign: Adarael

Favorite 'Mech: TDR-5SE Thunderbolt

My name is Tyler Carpenter, and I’m both a writer and a designer on BATTLETECH.

I’ve been with Harebrained Schemes since January 2015, working as a content designer for Shadowrun: Hong Kong, designing and writing many of the runs in Act 2, such as Whistleblower and Misdirection. I’ve been playing BattleTech since 1990, when I picked up the 2nd edition boxed set, rather than the AD&D books all my friends were buying.

I’ll be working on the story (with the rest of the former Shadowrun writing team), and larger overarching metagame - hiring MechWarriors, ‘Mech customization, negotiating transportation costs, and that sort of thing. My other, unofficial title is the human-shaped walking encyclopedia of BattleTech lore, so I’m also somewhat responsible for reminding the other designers when particular ‘Mechs entered production, who has a blood feud against whom, and the state of various Periphery states in the 3025 era. My job will be to tie the tactical combat part of our game together with the larger mercenary management game, and help ensure that everything you do looks and feels true to the BattleTech universe.

After 25 years of playing BattleTech, it feels like I’ve been waiting my whole life to bring this game to life on the PC, so I’m not only really looking forward to making a game with a compelling, interesting story, but one where the player is free to command their own destiny, taking jobs from their favorite Great Houses and feuding with their enemies. And, of course, players should be able to spend long hours tinkering in the ‘Mech Lab until they’ve tweaked their Marauder or Shadow Hawk to perfection.

- Tyler

 

[PhantasmaNL]

does the codex fundraiser include a copy (if 25 or higher)?

 

[Jaesun]

does the codex fundraiser include a copy (if 25 or higher)?

Yes, the minimum of $25 gets you a copy.

 

[noisenerd]

This means Battletech, despite the fact it's currently at less than half the funding of these games, has more backers in the $2000 range than the two most successful KS combined.

Huh. That's pretty cool. Also, further proof that BT is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

 

[khavi]

khavi Prepare your ale mug:

Welp...looks like I'm drinking at work. Luckily the heaviest machinery I need to operate is my mouse.

 

[ArchAngel]

Huh. That's pretty cool. Also, further proof that BT is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Or that is has more suckers with too much money.

 

[Jimmious]

Or that is has more suckers with too much money.

Which is certainly true since, to be honest, we're talking about adults that constantly buy super expensive toys so that they can spend hours painting them and occasionally also play with them

 

[noisenerd]

I stand by my assessment of the situation. The above statements, while possibly true, do not disprove mine.

 

[Shadowfang]

Am i still on time to join the codex fundraiser?
Who do i have to bother?

 

[Infinitron]

Am i still on time to join the codex fundraiser?
Who do i have to bother?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/campaigns.php?id=14

 

[Ulminati]

The new tier saves the day!

Let's see if they can maintain that momentum.

They couldn't.

Graph makes it pretty clear that the funding is going to be constant until the 48hr mark messages go out. They'll be at ~2,2 mill then, needing 150k a day to barely reach pvp.

 

[ArchAngel]

They couldn't.

Graph makes it pretty clear that the funding is going to be constant until the 48hr mark messages go out. They'll be at ~2,2 mill then, needing 150k a day to barely reach pvp.

Your calculations don't take into account almost 50k from paypal.

 

[Ulminati]

So 125k/day then, up from the $25k/day they get right now.

 

[Infinitron]

It's the final countdown - multiple bonus missions: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1396790

Which ‘Mech Are You?
Everyone loves a personality quiz, so this week’s SECOND Bonus Backer Mission is to take our “Which ‘Mech Are You?” quiz and post the results on Facebook and Twitter! Are you a small, but quick Commando? An Atlas, dominant and powerful? Take the quiz to find out!


Click the image to take the quiz!

Share it and see which of your friends you could take down in a BattleMech brawl!

Thunderclap!
Our THIRD Bonus Backer Mission this week is to join our Thunderclap and help get the word out about the final hours of our BATTLETECH Kickstarter campaign.

Thunderclap is a new tool that helps get a specific message out on Facebook and Twitter on the same day and at the same time to create an online flashmob.

Just click HERE and choose “Support with Twitter” and/or “Support with Facebook”. By doing so, you’ll add your social media voice to our Thunderclap. Oh, and feel free to share the link with your friends, too!

On Monday, November 2nd, everyone who has signed up will automatically make a one-time social media post telling your friends and followers that we are in the Final Hours of the BATTLETECH Kickstarter. Help make our Thunderclap as loud as possible to spread the word far and wide.

 

[anus_pounder]

Forgot to take a screenie, but I'm apparently a 'Victor' mech.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Forgot to take a screenie, but I'm apparently a 'Victor' mech.

Atlas here.

 

[Infinitron]

Centurion here.

 

[anus_pounder]

Forgot to take a screenie, but I'm apparently a 'Victor' mech.

Changed literally one answer in one of the questions that could go either way and I became an Atlas. 3rd time, Raven.



All this is pointless anyway, since the Flea is the best mech in Btech universe.

<3 Flea

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Hunchback.