KickStarter BattleTech Pre-Release Thread

[Lightknight]

Probably fully 3D.

I'd rather have a working skill system please. The one in Shadowrun is absolutely terrible.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

And... the first forum meltdown. Not bad for preproduction. An old-time BT player was very disturbed by a mention of ECM in the 3025 timeframe (there are arguments in the thread over whether the setting in 3025 should mean 3025 as in the original released rules or including more recent additions to the 3025 era).

http://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/967?page=9

How about this, >>>This post has been edited for a Code of Conduct breach: Outing Other User's Identity<<< I had more than a one-hour phone call with Mitch Gitelman because of my misgivings concerning backing another BattleTech universe product/project because of what PGI has done. He assured me, multiple times on the phone, that their largest concern at HBS was ensuring they stuck to the lore as much as possible. Not porting in the tabletop rules... okay, I can understand that; after all, I truly do enjoy the combat simulator PGI has put together as, to my mind, that is the closest representation of the BattleTech tabletop game I could have imagined it to be. There are errors, but these are things that have been identified by PGI and will, eventually, be addressed. So, rules not porting, that's fine, it CAN go well, and I assume HBS IS going to do just that. ECM was not a part of the lore, PERIOD, in 3025, and no one but the Capellan Confederation would have any clue ECM was being re-developed within their borders... in fact, no Capellan outside of that project would have known about ECM until 25 years later. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS!!!

I have yet to make a list from the Ask the Devs forums, but there are some other things that tell me I was lied to by a master salesman over the telephone, and the simple fact of the matter is this... I am not willing to invest more money into a PGI clone developer and be strung along year-after-year hoping and waiting for them to do what the hell they said they were going to do in the first place. I did not invest all of the money I have in this project to put up with the nightmare of of post-3049 jacked up technology!!! I want to play in 3025, and that's it, period.

I just spoke to Mitch, who isn't online today. He says that he definitely had a conversation with The Wolf that lasted more than an hour (and would be happy to do so again). And yes, Mitch assured him that the lore was very important to him. When he used the term ECM in another thread, he was talking in general about electronic warfare, not about any specific component.

Mitch also said that he gave The Wolf his direct email address, and if he is still angry and concerned that HBS will not be good stewards of the lore, to write to him directly and Mitch will personally refund his backing. He doesn't want a single person out there regretting their decision to back the project.

 

[Infinitron]

P.S. There was a Kickstarter update but it was just a Backerkit reminder.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Ok, own up, which Codexer is this on the BT forums:

http://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/1122

As I said in title - I'm a polish guy with Asperger Syndrome, which is a tabletop BattleTech Player since 2012

 

[hoverdog]

Ok, own up, which Codexer is this on the BT forums:

http://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/1122

As I said in title - I'm a polish guy with Asperger Syndrome, which is a tabletop BattleTech Player since 2012

obviously it's Awor Szurkrarz

 

[Spectacle]

I never asked for this... but I want it!

 

[Destroid]

Some backer should make the devs play crescent hawks revenge on stream. I bet it would take them 5+ goes to complete the first level.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Next twitch stream, HBS playing Battletech vs Catalyst (who publish the tabletop game these days)
26 Feb 2016
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/37793-hyper-rpg-twitch-launch

We are happy to announce that our last Backer Mission Reward - The BattleTech Beard-Off Beardstream - will be livestreamed on Friday, February 26 at 2PM PST as a part of the Charity Launch event for the new Twitch channel, Hyper Power Rabbit Go! All money raised will be going to a great charity, The Halo Foundation.

6 Beards Will Enter - Only 3 Beards Will Leave! Jordan, Mike, and Mitch from Harebrained Schemes and Randall, Brent, and Loren from Catalyst Game Labs will compete in a 3-on-3 team deathmatch, with each person controlling a single BattleMech. The losing team’s beards will be shaved off live and....there may be some audience participation that will put even more beards on the line!
!

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1467376

Quick & Hairy Announcement! 6 Beards Will Enter, Only 3 Beards Will Leave!

We know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath to find out all the details of the last Backer Mission Reward - The BattleTech Beard-Off - and the wait is now over!

For those of you who might not remember, during our Kickstarter, we promised that Jordan, Mike and Mitch would play a knock-down-drag-out game of tabletop BattleTech on Twitch with Randall Bills, Loren Coleman and Brent Evans from Catalyst Game Labs - with beards on the line!

We are happy to announce that The Beard-Off will happen on Friday, February 26 at 2PM PST as a part of the Charity Launch event for the new Twitch channel, Hyper Power Rabbit Go! or as we affectionately call it, Hyper RPG.

We’ll be raising funds for The HALO Foundation - a fantastic organization that serves more than 1,000 youth each year and helps them become contributing members of their communities. Donations go to programs that provide the basics - food, water, shelter and clothing - as well as education, art therapy, and vocational training for college for youth. You’ll be able to donate to the HALO Foundation while we’re live on the air during the Charity Stream by using the “Donate” button on our Twitch channel. We’re really proud to be partnering with such a great organization.


Six Beards Enter. Three Beards Leave. (Maybe less.)

Jordan, Mike, and Mitch and Randall, Brent, and Loren from Catalyst Game Labs will compete in a 3-on-3 deathmatch, with each person controlling a single BattleMech and the losing team’s beards will be shaved off live on Twitch. The loss of a beard isn’t a minor event. Several are very old and beloved and some are older than the owner’s children. Some, like Mitch’s, come with Jedi-like powers.

Some of the boys got together for a practice session the other day…

Tabletop BattleTech on Twitch Every Week!
We’re also excited to share that there will be a twice-weekly tabletop BattleTech game on Hyper RPG! called DEATH FROM ABOVE Tuesdays and Fridays at 6pm PST.

Introducing the cast of Death From Above

In DEATH FROM ABOVE, a lance of MechWarriors find themselves on the wrong side of the wrath of the Great Houses, and are forced to flee into the Periphery to sell their services as mercenaries. Manipulated by shadowy forces and never knowing who to trust, these mercenaries fight not only for survival, but to ensure their own freedom.

On Tuesdays, the mercenaries will arm and repair their walking tanks, discuss their upcoming missions, and plan their next steps toward success on the tabletop battlefield - be that tactics, or simply trying to decide what kind of repairs and equipment are the most efficient use of their limited funds. This roleplay-heavy session should last approximately an hour.

On Fridays, it's time for war - where the mercenaries face uneven odds, and a rotating group of special guests to play the antagonists on the field. The tabletop battlefield will feature our custom 3D printed ’Mechs, and the fear of permadeath - any MechWarrior who dies in the game will no longer be part of the mercenary team. Audience members will affect the game Hunger Games-style by sending in repair crews and/or weapon attachments.

Tune in Tuesday, March 1 and Friday, March 3 at 6pm for the inaugural livestreams! They'll be archived on Twitch and available at a later date on Youtube.

BATTLETECH Q&A Returns!
We know you all enjoyed the BATTLETECH Q&A's during the Kickstarter - and we did, too - so we're pleased to continue this tradition with a monthly session beginning Wednesday, March 9 at 2pm PST on Hyper RPG.

For this first Q&A about ongoing development, our topic is what to expect in BATTLETECH’s combat and field experience and we want your questions! Using this BATTLETECH forum post, let us know what’s on your mind and what you’d like us to share. We can’t promise that we’ll be able to answer all your questions but we’ll do our best. You’ll also be able to participate in the chat room during the livestream and ask questions there.

We’ll be doing these Q&A sessions on the 2nd Wednesday of every month with new topics so be sure to watch for new forum posts the week before each Q&A asking for your questions.

Hope you’ll join us for all these events!
---HBS

SAVE THE DATE!
Fri-Sun February 26-28 12pm PST
48 Hour Hyper Power Rabbit Go! Charity Launch event

Fri February 26 2pm PST
The BattleTech Beard-Off Livestream

Tues March 1 6pm PST
DEATH FROM ABOVE

Fri Mar 4 6pm PST
DEATH FROM ABOVE

Wed Mar 9 2pm PST
BATTLETECH Q&A

 

[Infinitron]

UPDATE - finally, a real one! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1512716

A Quick Development Update!
Two months into 2016 and things are really picking up speed! Our gameplay prototype has evolved from a rough testing grounds to a fun, cohesive experience that has us all nodding and saying “Yes, this feels like BattleTech.” We’re up to 5-strong on the engineering team now, with architecture and gameplay efforts well underway. Tools and AI engineering efforts are just starting to spin-up, with a couple of key final hires rounding out the team (you’ll get to meet them in future “Behind the Curtain” updates.)

On the art side, we have a terrain-creation pipeline up and running for art and design to start working with that gives us a great balance between design features and really great-looking, naturalistic terrain. (I’m excited to show you guys later this year!) The story team has a complete first-draft of all major characters, locations, and story-beats for the game that we’re busy fleshing-out and iterating on. And the concept art team is right on the story team’s heels, with a good set of designs for major characters and environments already established.

One thing we’re all keenly aware of here is that this game is going to need a LOT of content created for it to fully deliver on the “open-ended” promise - so we definitely still have our work cut out for us, especially when the project transitions into our full Production phase this summer. That said - Jordan and I feel good about where we’re at so far in pre-production.

Introducing the Argo-Class DropShip
And now - it’s DropShip time! Below is a nice sourcebook-style bit of history from our Design Lead Kevin Maginn, along with concept art that the art team and I have been working on.NOTE: Very minor background and setting spoilers follow. It’s nothing big, but I thought I’d include the warning just in case - if you want to discover the DropShip and bits of its backstory for the first time when you play the game, then you might not want to read further.

The Argo-class DropShip was an experiment in constructing a self-sufficient mobile base of operations for a flotilla of expeditionary ships. Built as a mid-point between a mobile DropShip and a mostly-immobile JumpShip, the Argo-class prioritizes sustainable long-term missions over everything else. Boeing Interstellar produced just two of these enormous ships, the Argo and the Myrmidon. The Argo was sent on its proving voyage to the Rimward Periphery in 2762.


(CONCEPT ART: Argo-class DropShip in stable orbit. One Leopard-class DropShip can be seen docked to its side, while another departs to deploy a Mercenary Lance to the planetary surface below.)
The intended mission of the Argo was to follow behind the first wave of exploratory missions, supporting multiple surveyor, terraformer, and colonizer teams while they completed a deep survey of the system. To accomplish this mission, the Argo would stay in-system for six months at a time, while the JumpShip that carried it there would move on to other systems and other tasks. The Argo was a mobile space station, in a sense, providing supply and temporary habitation for teams on dangerous missions in unsettled space.

The Argo is too large to land on a planet, much like the similarly-sized Behemoth. The prototype multiple docking collar system allowed for smaller DropShips to attach to the Argo for resupply, cargo transfer, and personnel transfer; these docking collars allowed smaller ships to remain attached while the Argo linked with a JumpShip for jump transfer, or to break off and remain in-system while the Argo moved on ahead. The Argo was thus meant as a logistical hub for a small flotilla of DropShips, which would dock and undock with the ship as needed to complete their independent missions.


(CONCEPT ART: Key ship features. Click to enlarge.)
With 57,000 tons of cargo space, the Argo was able to carry supplies for multiple young colonies, arms and armaments for garrisons in need of resupply, colonists being moved to or evacuated from a colony, military hardware, and fuel for other ships. It lacks the armor or maneuverability to function in battle, and it is vastly outclassed in size and firepower by even the smallest WarShips, and it was this non-combat role that ultimately led to its abandonment; the Boeing factories on Galax were entirely repurposed for wartime, and there was simply no place for a peacetime exploration ship.

The Argo featured a unique folding grav-deck design, which allows the ship to remain habitable while in orbit around a planet or station-keeping near a jump point. The three habitation ‘pods’ lie flat against the ship’s central spine while under thrust; while the ship is stationary, the pods extend and the collar to which they’re attached rotates. This keeps the living quarters and medical facilities under gravity at all times, which makes the ship habitable for long tours of duty. The flight control area and command center are located deep inside the ship, near its spine, and are only under gravity during thrust. They’re serviced by fast passenger-sized lifts that run the length of the ship, allowing the crew to muster for duty in just minutes in an emergency.

(CONCEPT ART: The Argo’s hab ring being deployed - the only time when the hab ring ceases to be under either thrust-based or rotation-based gravity. The crew must securely lock down all loose items in the hab ring prior to deployment.)
Habitability was a key point in the objectives the Boeing engineers were given: the crew would be expected to live on the ship for years at a time, if not decades. This total self-sufficiency is a recurring theme in the ship’s design. It includes three fully-featured MASH medical theaters, larger-than-usual crew and passenger accommodations, recreational areas, fitness centers, and extensive onboard hydroponic gardens. An entire pod is reserved for passengers and temporary guests; docking DropShip crews were expected to take ‘shore’ leave onboard the Argo.

(CONCEPT ART: The habitation ring, deployed. The counter-rotation of the high-mass engine/fuel assembly at the rear ensures zero net rotational momentum for the ship.)
The central spine includes multiple elevator shafts serving each of the three docking collars, each shaft being large enough to accommodate an Assault-class ‘Mech, an aerospace fighter, or a heavy combat vehicle. Ground vehicles and ‘Mechs were not expected to deploy directly from the Argo, so it lacks external bay doors; deploying a ground unit meant transferring the unit along the spinal elevators to a waiting Leopard (or comparable) DropShip, from which the unit would deploy. The complement of fighters, however, could deploy directly from the Argo, and were expected to provide support and cover if the Argo found itself in danger.

Ultimately, the Argo would prove to be a dead-end in DropShip design. On its maiden voyage in the deep Periphery, the Argo dropped out of contact, and was presumed destroyed as part of an attack in the New Vandenberg Uprising. While still in dock preparing for its own first voyage, theMyrmidon was damaged by a terrorist action. It was decided not to try to repair the Myrmidon, and it was ultimately broken down for parts and materials to manufacture other, more battle-oriented ships.

The Argo was a product of the era in which it was conceived: a peacetime ship meant for peacetime exploration duties, and planned with the expectation of an abundance of resources and a focus on long-term orbital deployment. In an earlier era, it might have seen widespread usage, but in practice the fall of the Star League and the outbreak of war (and near constant state of war ever since) has rendered the Argo little more than a forgotten, experimental footnote in the history of DropShip production.

A Tour of the Argo

(CONCEPT ART: A Davion liaison reviews contract details with a veteran lance of MechWarriors in the Argo’s makeshift briefing room.)
I’m not going to dive into any story spoilers here, but suffice it to say that your Mercenary outfit will come into possession of this derelict Argo-class DropShip early on in the campaign. Here’s a quick tour of some of the different areas of the DropShip that you’ll be able to visit to manage your Mercenary outfit. (And by visit, we mean move between fixed-views of each environment, almost like the old MechWarrior games.) Once again, over to Kevin for the descriptions here!

COMMAND CENTER - This is where you and your command staff operate the ship. It’s a combination of a communications center, briefing room, and CIC. It’s located amidships, along the spine of the ship, where it’s quickly and easily accessed from anywhere on the ship while also being protected by the bulk of the Main Hold. In the Command Center, you’ll talk to your Executive Officer, review and negotiate contracts, and determine lance deployments.


(CONCEPT ART: the long-dormant Command Center of the derelict Argo.)
BRIDGE - The bridge is where the operations crew and the navigator drive the ship. It features a large holo-vid display in the center of the bridge for surveying known planetary and stellar data. The pilot and copilot pods are at one end of the bridge area, and the navigator’s console is at the other end. On the Bridge, you’ll talk to your ship’s Navigator and chart both interstellar and interplanetary travel.


(CONCEPT ART: The Argo's bridge. While many sci-fi ships opt for a more aircraft-carrier-style bridge, with windows looking out into space, we wanted something more practical - so the bridge is located in the most protected part of the ship, its center.)
MAIN HOLD - The Argo’s main hold is subdivided into into multiple bays, which are connected to each other both via the ship’s main spine elevators and internal lifts. There are three Mech bays, each of which has four Mech cubicles. Active ‘Mechs are kept in these cubicles, ready for deployment. The cubicles are also repair bays for MechTechs to upgrade, modify, and repair Mechs. The Argo was built primarily as a cargo hauler, and has 20 cargo bays ranging in size from 20 m3 to the vast cavernous Main Bay, with 25,000 m3 of storage. In its new life as a mercenary company base, the ship’s cargo bays are used to store salvaged and otherwise deactivated mech chassis and weapons. In the Main Hold, you’ll repair, customize, and upgrade your ‘Mechs, as well as manage salvage and possibly support vehicles.


(CONCEPT ART: An Atlas, secure in its cubicle in the Argo’s ‘Mech Bay at the base of the Main Hold.)
HABITATION RING - The Argo has three habitation pods, which spin while the ship is not under thrust to provide apparent gravity, and fold down along the spine of the ship to provide apparent gravity while under thrust. These pods contain all comfort-focused facilities: barracks, medical bays, hydroponics, recreation areas, and passenger quarters. In the Habitation Ring, you’ll manage your MechWarriors and other personnel, and browse hiring boards for new hires.

CAPTAIN’S QUARTERS - Your personal quarters on the ship. They’re located in one of the habitation modules, so they always have gravity. They’re larger than the other crew quarters aboard the ship, mostly because they include an attached office. In your Captain’s Quarters, you’ll manage your Mercenary company finances, browse ComStar news bulletins, and view records of your career-to-date.

ENGINEERING - The Argo’s engines are serviced by two primary engineering decks, near the reactor shield. Access to the ship’s maintenance passageways and access tunnels is all through these two decks. In an emergency, the engineering deck can be used as a backup command center. Engineering is where you’ll talk to your Chief Engineer and choose both functional and cosmetic upgrades for the Argo.

So, that’s the Argo! Some elements may still change, but we’re very excited about this direction and what it adds to the Mercenary campaign. Here’s one more last-minute addition to the tour, though - a previsualization video that Joel and Spencer have been working on to show how you might interact with the various rooms on the DropShip. I wasn’t planning on including this, but… well, when Spencer showed it to the team yesterday, we all thought it was just too cool to not give you guys a peek.

Please know that this is a rough concept piece only - it’s not in-engine yet, and is not meant to suggest any specifics as far as how ‘Mech and ‘MechWarrior customization will work from a game design standpoint, or who your particular advisor characters will be in the story. This is all hot-off-the-presses and subject to change. But enough caveats - here’s the concept video!

(Additional caveat - ‘Mech scaling is still a work in progress, and we’ll be following Piranha’s current rescaling efforts for MWO, coordinating with them to ensure that everything we ship in our final game feels correct.)

Behind the Scenes - Designing the Argo
This section may not interest everyone, but it’s been REALLY, really fun designing this ship inside and out with the team. So I wanted to talk a little bit more about the way we approached it and some of the “hard sci-fi” considerations that made their way into the design.

We started with a really simple prompt: to design a new ship that both narratively and visually fit the BattleTech universe. We knew we wanted something that could act as a mobile base for the campaign, and eventually accommodate an entire Mercenary company. We considered using many existing BattleTech DropShips, but at the end of the day, we really wanted to contribute something new and unique to the world that could serve as one of the highlights of our single-player campaign. For gameplay purposes, we also really liked the flexibility of being able to send a smaller Leopard DropShip down to a planet for a mission, while leaving your main base of operations safe in orbit.

One of the things that really sets BattleTech apart from other sci-fi universes is just how much attention to hard science and practicality is included in the source material. To that end, we spent a ton of time early on discussing what kind of design features might make sense for an early expeditionary ship in the world of BattleTech. The idea of a persistent grav deck quickly became a key feature, one that I went through several iterations on before finally landing on the idea of the deployable hab ring. (In fact, I’m pretty sure at that point I was using paper cups to illustrate the idea to the design team.) Once I had that figured out, I was able to develop around that central idea, with the goal of building something that felt true to the overall shape language of BattleTech DropShips - in a nutshell, it’s a ship built for cold reality, not for beauty.

To start designing the interior of the Argo, our art team took a field trip down to the nearby Museum of Flight to take their awesome Space Shuttle trainer tour, and take tons of reference photos. It’s always incredibly useful in the visual development process to seek out primary reference, and this was no exception. There’s an authenticity you find in little design details, like lockers on the wall with attach points on the front for sticking things to during free-fall - it’s been really fun watching Joel layer those elements into the various area designs of the ship.

As the style of the DropShip came together, we turned to the crunchy stuff: the actual BattleTech numbers. (We weren’t about to add a new ship to the BattleTech universe without ensuring that it was possible under the game’s detailed DropShip construction rules.) Our goal was to create a writeup that wouldn’t look out of place in an official Technical Readout book. Kevin started with the TechManual and a target weight of 100,000 tons. Then he turned to Tactical Operations for its selection of advanced equipment, and finally Strategic Operations to look over the advanced Aerospace and maintenance rules and the wide selection of design quirks. In the end, we were able to get pretty close to a set of ‘official’ BattleTech stats, and this gave us some clear guidelines for the size of various components, the scale of the ship, and the way everything should fit together. (Though to be clear, we’re not submitting this as any kind of playable entry for tabletop play - we’re sure there would be plenty of balancing issues, at the very least.)

That’s it for the Argo (finally!) - but don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for the combat Q&A session, or catch the recording of it later. Until next time!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

...as well as manage salvage and possibly support vehicles.

What does it mean?
Are they planning to put allied or controllable vehicles in?

 

[Infinitron]

...as well as manage salvage and possibly support vehicles.

What does it mean?
Are they planning to put allied or controllable vehicles in?

Yes.

 

[Kem0sabe]

With each update I'm more dissapointed that I didn't back this, which is a good sign.

Im really excited for the project and hopefully they won't fuck up the combat by dumbing down.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Yes.

Good.

 

[agris]

Here’s a quick tour of some of the different areas of the DropShip that you’ll be able to visit to manage your Mercenary outfit. (And by visit, we mean move between fixed-views of each environment, almost like the old MechWarrior games.)

Sounds like the XCOM1/2 system of static views for areas of discrete functionality.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah, I got the same vibe. Or town vendors/locations in Darklands and Pirates! Which is the best decision for them, imho.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Q&A livestream:

 

[Infinitron]

Where's khavi?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Where's khavi?

Last seen during December.

Few points that I can remember from livestream:
-They currently have a rough prototype for mech vs mech combat (with rudimentary melee mechanics), will add vehicles in it later and possibly infantry.
-Line of Sight is in. Considering Fog of War for some mission types.
-Player will field 1 Lance of mechs and perhaps couple support vehicles in battlefield.
-Artillery- and airstrikes will be in game.
-Mechwarrior skills will be divided into "Piloting" and "Gunnery" skills.
-Mechwarriors will have and will acquire quirks. For example "Hates Davion".
-Torso twisting is in prototype, but apparently people find differing torso/leg orientations confusing.
-Battlefields should be big enough that there is always room to manoeuvre. No weapons that can shoot from one end of the level to another.
-Turns will be resolved in initiative order rather than one side making all their moves at once. They will give demonstration at later date.
-Critical hits will be happening less often against player in SP game than in multiplayer. Dice will be fudged in players favor.
-New Q&A second Wednesday of every month.

Probably missed some stuff.

e. Another summary here:
https://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/1622?page=1

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

It was a good Q&A, they revealed more than I thought at this stage. I linked a summary on the BT forum in the newspost thread.

 

[Destroid]

One lance seems too few.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I dunno, for a squad-focused game it seems like a good number since 4-6 is the sweet spot where you have enough to cover all types of specialists. Too much and you end up with too much blunt force at your disposal. Focusing on making all specialists equally important for succesful missions is the key, not the size of the squad. And in case of this game, making each BattleMech as tactically unique as possible (which in this case should mean for example that an Atlas can chokeslam but other Assaults cannot, as a canon example of something in Readouts but not reflected in TT).

 

[agris]

-Critical hits will be happening less often against player in SP game than in multiplayer. Dice will be fudged in players favor.

Hopefully we can disable the dice fudging.

 

[Mozg]

Sounds like the XCOM1/2 system of static views for areas of discrete functionality.

It's a much older aesthetic thing. It made me think of Wing Commander/X-Wing/TIE Fighter. XCOM almost seems like a pure homage version of those because after about fifteen minutes you never look at the rooms again and do everything from the dropdown menu.