KickStarter BATTLETECH - turn-based mech combat from Harebrained Schemes

[Cael]

Just forget it is a BT game, and pretend it is litteraly a Pacific Rim with space feudalism. It should ease the pain and make it easier to ignore.
As an epic 40K player, I have seen much worse when it comes to videogame "adaptations".

Oh, dear Lord. I feel your pain...

 

[V_K]

Celeritis runs strong in this thread

The more I read the more I'm convinced that being true to the tabletop rules was very low priority in their development...

And why did you expect different after Shadowrun games?

That's like a Vampire game with no Generation stat or need for blood sustenance.

So basically like Bloodlines?

 

[Matalarata]

So basically like Bloodlines?

Uh? Bloodlines is a single character ARPG, as such the presence of a Generation stat is non-required, vampires feel their generation, they don't go around telling everyone "hey immaneight". There are plenty of stats to nail the main char. generation though.

The general consesus iirc is that the player character is either an 8 gen or even a 7 gen (because of the blood pool) but freshly awakened and still unable to fully understand his power. That's also why LaCroix decides to save you in the first place imho.


But hey, from a numeric point of view, bad example I know. I prefer to use systems I'm familiar with.

That's like a Vampire game with no Generation stat or need for blood sustenance a game of Werewolves with only two shapes and no rage pool.

There, better?

 

[V_K]

Bloodlines is a single character ARPG, as such the presence of a Generation stat is non-required

Redemption still had it though.

That's like a Vampire game with no Generation stat or need for blood sustenance a game of Werewolves with only two shapes ond no rage pool.

There, better?

We'll see when the Cyanide game comes out.
I guess we should stop hijacking this thread though.

 

[Lord Andre]

I think I may have found a solution to my earlier predicament regarding salvaging parts. It seems that as long as a mech is finished while on its back you get all 3 parts...

So now my my assassinate missions usually end up like this:

 

[Stavrophore]

I finally ended the game. My thoughts:

Positives:
-Nice environment, effects, overal graphics, i would like to see more detailed mechs though
-Mech customization is done quite good, with helpful indicators
-Side mission variety after some campaign progress, although would like to see more missions with time or other pressure

Negatives:
-Shallow ship customization
-In terms of weaponry it stays true to lore, but i would like to see more weapons and stuff, even if its outside the lore.
-Bugs, long animations, rarely a crash. Lots of patching is needed and more anim. speed customizations
-Tactical approach is very simple with repeatable doings. Aim for the leg, knockdown, shoot torso ->profit, rinse and repeat
-Game is easy with no difficulty customization, the last boss battle was a laugh
-Financial strategy, decisions and tough choices- there are none. The strategic sphere is severely lacking
-Useless ship animations that prolong the traveling time, better spend that programming and artists time on something that won't annoy you and is useless after seeing it first time
-Plot, oh boy the plot is so fucking bad, cheesy, retarded. In the middle of the game i just clickthrough the dialogs, because they were that bad. The story, the lack of choices, the lack of possibility of doublecrossing, backstabbing, betrayals, the linearity of it, like in a product for a 12 years old, infatuted with power metal, and high fantasy.
-Uninspiring sounds, AC/20 should sound and behave like a fucking naval cannon from the battleship.Lasers and missiles are ok, but autocannons are kinda weak.
-Music, serviceable but unmemorable. The only nice piece is the main menu music.


Overall it glued me to the PC for few days, so it wasn't that bad, but it was mainly because of really dry period for turn based tactical games, especially with mechs. Nonetheless the game is 6/10 maybe 6+ or 7/10 when you factor out the bugs.

 

[fantadomat]

I finally ended the game. My thoughts:

Positives:
-Nice environment, effects, overal graphics, i would like to see more detailed mechs though
-Mech customization is done quite good, with helpful indicators
-Side mission variety after some campaign progress, although would like to see more missions with time or other pressure

Negatives:
-Shallow ship customization
-In terms of weaponry it stays true to lore, but i would like to see more weapons and stuff, even if its outside the lore.
-Bugs, long animations, rarely a crash. Lots of patching is needed and more anim. speed customizations
-Tactical approach is very simple with repeatable doings. Aim for the leg, knockdown, shoot torso ->profit, rinse and repeat
-Game is easy with no difficulty customization, the last boss battle was a laugh
-Financial strategy, decisions and tough choices- there are none. The strategic sphere is severely lacking
-Useless ship animations that prolong the traveling time, better spend that programming and artists time on something that won't annoy you and is useless after seeing it first time
-Plot, oh boy the plot is so fucking bad, cheesy, retarded. In the middle of the game i just clickthrough the dialogs, because they were that bad. The story, the lack of choices, the lack of possibility of doublecrossing, backstabbing, betrayals, the linearity of it, like in a product for a 12 years old, infatuted with power metal, and high fantasy.
-Uninspiring sounds, AC/20 should sound and behave like a fucking naval cannon from the battleship.Lasers and missiles are ok, but autocannons are kinda weak.
-Music, serviceable but unmemorable. The only nice piece is the main menu music.


Overall it glued me to the PC for few days, so it wasn't that bad, but it was mainly because of really dry period for turn based tactical games, especially with mechs. Nonetheless the game is 6/10 maybe 6+ or 7/10 when you factor out the bugs.

Three positives and 10 negatives.....7/10. Shouldn't be the other way around 3/10?

 

[Jason Liang]

Someone ask Cael if he's ever played the Sega Genesis Battletech:D

(any Battletech fan should try the Sega Genesis Battletech)

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

I played the SNES version (MechWarrior 3050) and god damn that game gets hard in the later missions.

 

[Hellraiser]

So what, difficulty settings coming in summer? Or is that just for granular ones they implement a hard mode in the may patch? In any case, I guess I will play with the modded settings I did.

 

[Duellist_D]

How assblasted can a single individual be, wtf, get a fucking life.

Nobody with a functioning brain would have expected a 1:1 adaption of BT rules in their game from HBS.
They already didn't do that with Shadowrun, and with good reason.
Save for a few grognardian neckbeards who still think that measuring "line of sight" with a laserpointer is in any way an acceptable mechanic, nobody should take much of an issue with that.
Its a videogame. A videogame is supposed to make proper use of its transportation medium (PC/Console) and adapt its mechanics to the underlying system. I've been playing Shadowrun for quite some time now. Would i have wanted the games to be an exact or very close adaption regarding the mechanics? Fuck no, they are way to clunky. Its fun to play when you can handwave some retarded shit while playing with persons, but with a Computer who is unable to do that? Fuck no.

The HBS games had been excellent in capturing the SOUL and flavor of the setting, and thats a big part of the job done well.
I freely admit that i'm not as kneedeep in BT lore as i am in SRs, but the game manages to deliver a proper atmosphere and thats good.
That it doesn't copy the mechanics of the TT? I don't give a flying fuck. That the mechanics aren't super stellar on all sides? Thats a totally legitimate point of critique, but virtually unadressed by this foaming neckbeard fa/tg/OY in here.

And yeah, the game is to easy in certain parts.
It needs an ironman mode.
I also heavily dislike that they want to remove the bigger variance in practical difficulty relative to the displayed Skulls. The idea that intel is buggered and you occasionally run into battles where you have a proper chance of getting totally rekt appeals to me and would make the ejection mechanic a lot more relevant (again, especially with an Ironman mode). Tbh i was a fan of the original saving mechanic in SRR. Made savescumming way more tiresome.

IN regards to high load on CPU and GPU:
Can only partially confirm. The (fairly old) CPU is boring itself at maybe 40% load, while the GPU has quite a bit of work to do.

 

[Stavrophore]

IN regards to high load on CPU and GPU:
Can only partially confirm. The (fairly old) CPU is boring itself at maybe 40% load, while the GPU has quite a bit of work to do.

It's not 100% time, in fact it's mostly not 100% load, but sometimes happens and stalls the game to a grind.

 

[Black]

get a fucking life.

Choke on a dick, normie.

 

[terile]

I've heard complaints about crashes & bugs, which fits my experience of Unity.
What's the codex opinion ? wait till patched, wait for sale, or wait till hell freezes over ?

 

[agris]

I've heard complaints about crashes & bugs, which fits my experience of Unity.
What's the codex opinion ? wait till patched, wait for sale, or wait till hell freezes over ?

I've had no crashes in 30+ hours, but the GPU runs hot. If you've got a pre-built computer and don't remember the last time you cleaned it out, go ahead and open the side and vacuum the sucker first before playing.

Re: bugs, I believe multishot didn't tigger once, but that could have been because the GUI is hidden by default during attacks. You'll want to disable that, and all the dynamic and cinematic camera shit.

 

[Duellist_D]

Choke on a dick, normie.

Can't provide counterarguments, has to resort to ad hominems and uses "normie" as an insult.
I'll take that as an unconditional surrender, faggot.

 

[Duellist_D]

I've heard complaints about crashes & bugs, which fits my experience of Unity.
What's the codex opinion ? wait till patched, wait for sale, or wait till hell freezes over ?

37 hours, one single crash (that i might have caused myself) and one easily fixed bug (mentioned earlier in this thread).
I'd rate stability absolutely acceptable by objective measurements. The load on your PC is something you'll have to judge for yourself.
I find it acceptable, but your personal opinion might differ. Imho the game is worth the price if you like squadbased tactic games.
Can't comment on the multiplayer, haven't tried it so far.

 

[terile]

Yeah, it's the load I'm worried about - I've had other unity games try to melt my PC.
I'll give this one a pass until I've got something better to run it on.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Bohr]

New beta patch out

Spoiler

Thank you for playing BATTLETECH! We appreciate your patience and support as our team works to quickly investigate and address reported issues with the game. Release 1.0.2 is now available for users on the “public_beta” Beta branch on Steam and GOG. If you are experiencing any of the issues listed in the Release Notes below, we recommend opting in to the public_beta branch at this time. If you are experiencing any issues running the game that aren't listed below, or if updating to public_beta does not address your issue, please contact Paradox Support here: https://support.paradoxplaza.com

Release 1.0.2 Notes, 5/3/2018

• Fixes to video player codec behavior to resolve .dll access violations that were causing consistent video player crashes for a small set of users.
  
  
• Memory management improvements.
  
  
• Fixing issues with the Valhalla Shadow Hawk variant failing to load in missions when selected.

How to switch to the public_beta branch (Steam):

1. In the left column games list of your Steam library, right-click BATTLETECH.
   
   
2. Select Properties
   
   
3. Click on the tab labelled BETAS
   
   
4. In the dropdown menu, select public_beta (Note: if you do not see this available, you may need to restart Steam and/or wait a few minutes.)
   
   
5. Click the CLOSE button
   
   
6. BATTLETECH should start updating automatically
   
   
7. When the update has completed, right-click BATTLETECH again, select Properties, and open the LOCAL FILES tab.
   
   
8. Click the VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES button.
   
   
9. When this completes, restart Steam and then launch the game.

How to switch to the public_beta branch (GOG):

1. Within the GOG Galaxy App, Navigate to your library.
   
   
2. When you hover over the BattleTech library entry, find the small menu expansion arrow in the bottom right corner of the BattleTech App - select “Settings”
   
   
3. Click Beta Channels on the right side of the header and select “On”
   
   
4. Click the Channel dropdown and select “public_beta”

IMPORTANT: If you switch to the public_beta branch, please note that when playing Multiplayer Skirmish, you will only be able to play against other players on the public_beta branch. The Lobby browser does not currently denote which players are on the public_beta branch and which are not (but will in future releases.) If you switch to the public_beta branch and then want to create a multiplayer lobby, please add [BETA] to the front of your Lobby name.

If you experience any issues after updating, the first step we recommend is to restart your computer, and then verify integrity of game files. Occasionally, the Steam update process can act weird - this will ensure that the update has been properly applied. After this, if your experience is worse than it was on the live version, please report that to customer service and go back to the live branch (v1.0.1).

 

[Black]

Choke on a dick, normie.

Can't provide counterarguments, has to resort to ad hominems and uses "normie" as an insult.
I'll take that as an unconditional surrender, faggot.

I was gonna do that but then I remembered I have a life and no time to waste on normies that'd fit right in in watchwitz.

 

[Duellist_D]

You could have at least tried to come up with something resembling a witty retort.

Lame & gay.
Also:

I have a life

Parrots: 1,865,945

 

[rashiakas]

I've heard complaints about crashes & bugs, which fits my experience of Unity.
What's the codex opinion ? wait till patched, wait for sale, or wait till hell freezes over ?

I've had no crashes in 30+ hours, but the GPU runs hot. If you've got a pre-built computer and don't remember the last time you cleaned it out, go ahead and open the side and vacuum the sucker first before playing.

Re: bugs, I believe multishot didn't tigger once, but that could have been because the GUI is hidden by default during attacks. You'll want to disable that, and all the dynamic and cinematic camera shit.

Kinda off topic, but never, ever, use a vacuum cleaner to clean your pc. Vacuum cleaners generate static electricity that could easily mean the death of your system.

 

[agris]

I've heard complaints about crashes & bugs, which fits my experience of Unity.
What's the codex opinion ? wait till patched, wait for sale, or wait till hell freezes over ?

I've had no crashes in 30+ hours, but the GPU runs hot. If you've got a pre-built computer and don't remember the last time you cleaned it out, go ahead and open the side and vacuum the sucker first before playing.

Re: bugs, I believe multishot didn't tigger once, but that could have been because the GUI is hidden by default during attacks. You'll want to disable that, and all the dynamic and cinematic camera shit.

Kinda off topic, but never, ever, use a vacuum cleaner to clean your pc. Vacuum cleaners generate static electricity that could easily mean the death of your system.

That's interesting. I've only vacuumed fans, and heatsinks, never motherboard components. I can see the logic though, you're rapidly convecting a lot of particles with various surface charges over a lot of materials, some of which are insulators (plastic, etc). Though, a computer that is plugged into a socket that is properly grounded probably wouldn't have have anything to worry about.. unless you were vacuuming the equivalent of a dead rabbit out of it.

 

[Country_Gravy]

This is confirmed to be the best BattleTech game of all time.

 

[Jason Liang]

This is confirmed to be the best BattleTech game of all time.

This is clearly the best BattleTech game of all time if you're freezing in a cave during a Siberian winter.