KickStarter BATTLETECH - turn-based mech combat from Harebrained Schemes

[Cael]

Bracing for the inevitable comparisons of Career Mode and Roguetech mod.

The biggest problem with Roguetech is all the OP Losstech they just have lying around. That stuff breaks the game in two. Enemies with it can destroy you in a turn and if you have it you can steamroll the entire map. If they just took that out it'd be much better.

> Roguetech not being a pile of broken OP kitchen sink bullshit.

Hah.

RT is the poster child for why most mods are shit. It's so memory intensive if it doesn't straight up crash your game on launch it'll run like shit, they fucked all the math because "muh difficulty", threw in a shitload of barely canon shit because it's cool, and half the mod is just other mods slapped in there, but if you call it out on this you'll get dogpiled by the Roguetech defence force.

My favourite part is that you can't even discuss the vanilla game without an influx of Roguetech evangelists telling you how you should play the game.

And there's nothing remotely "Rogue" about it.

Oh yes! Let's have 100-ton Clan tech 'mechs. 16 of them. In 3018. Fighting the Kuritans. As a Steiner aligned merc.

What can possibly go wrong?

 

[Black]

If Wolf's Dragoons can have Annihilator why can't every other shmuck?

 

[Cael]

If Wolf's Dragoons can have Annihilator why can't every other shmuck?

The one they have in 3025 is basically a 4x AC10 100-ton 'mech. It doesn't have any advanced tech.

 

[Bohr]

 

[ArchAngel]

CohhCarnage is lying. He is playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker everyday whole day and he is not even trying to hide his addiction :D

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

LosTech really only serves a point in the context of the game's current timeframe if it exists to act as an equalizer after or in conjunction with pilot skill for more extensive battles in lategame. The general problem with the game, most likely especially now that they effectively removed stability as a concern for heavier mechs, is that there's this heavily enforced equilibrium of relative power between the player and the enemy (one giant mistake being keeping vehicles in line with tabletop rules, and then giving all enemies access to pilot abilities). It kind of drains any sense of fun and progression if the only thing your upgrades in tonnage and parts serve is to play keep up, and the only thing that happens as you fight later on is that you rather than doing new things you only rely further and further on borderline exploits to win fights.

"muh difficulty" based just around nullifying player advancements while raising numbers is really just not very interesting. Which is sadly pretty much entirety of the game by the time transition to heavies begins.

So at what point do I go back to this and start over and rip through the campaign?

Are they going to open the entire IS with Sandbox? That sounds like the game I want.

I wouldn't mind finding some rare "signature mech pats" and putting together some of the famous mechs from this era.

Still not the game you want. It will become aimless and pointless repeat of same missions trying to stay above your monthly upkeep.
They need to add much more than just go anywhere and compete vs other players in 1200 days.

They need to add factions being able to conquer other faction planets with or without your help. Then some special missions connected with special goals, like being able to get rare mech gear through completing them.
Or special missions that let you steal enemy Mechs.
Then they need to add other mercenary companies that you meet here and there on missions and they remember you and after a time become your adversary, even show up on random missions to try to fuck you up (and you can do the same to them).
And game needs more basic mission types, what they have now is not nearly enough to play sandbox with.

And many other things.. I don't expect them to add any of that shit, but maybe some really motivated modders do.

What they really need is the same as I've been saying for a while now:

A linear, long campaign with a good story, a fun and unique premade party for the PC, and lots of interesting sidequests more in the style of their Shadowrun games rather than doubling down on the random merc sandbox with a handful of missions.

 

[ArchAngel]

LosTech really only serves a point in the context of the game's current timeframe if it exists to act as an equalizer after or in conjunction with pilot skill for more extensive battles in lategame. The general problem with the game, most likely especially now that they effectively removed stability as a concern for heavier mechs, is that there's this heavily enforced equilibrium of relative power between the player and the enemy (one giant mistake being keeping vehicles in line with tabletop rules, and then giving all enemies access to pilot abilities). It kind of drains any sense of fun and progression if the only thing your upgrades in tonnage and parts serve is to play keep up, and the only thing that happens as you fight later on is that you rather than doing new things you only rely further and further on borderline exploits to win fights.

"muh difficulty" based just around nullifying player advancements while raising numbers is really just not very interesting. Which is sadly pretty much entirety of the game by the time transition to heavies begins.

So at what point do I go back to this and start over and rip through the campaign?

Are they going to open the entire IS with Sandbox? That sounds like the game I want.

I wouldn't mind finding some rare "signature mech pats" and putting together some of the famous mechs from this era.

Still not the game you want. It will become aimless and pointless repeat of same missions trying to stay above your monthly upkeep.
They need to add much more than just go anywhere and compete vs other players in 1200 days.

They need to add factions being able to conquer other faction planets with or without your help. Then some special missions connected with special goals, like being able to get rare mech gear through completing them.
Or special missions that let you steal enemy Mechs.
Then they need to add other mercenary companies that you meet here and there on missions and they remember you and after a time become your adversary, even show up on random missions to try to fuck you up (and you can do the same to them).
And game needs more basic mission types, what they have now is not nearly enough to play sandbox with.

And many other things.. I don't expect them to add any of that shit, but maybe some really motivated modders do.

What they really need is the same as I've been saying for a while now:

A linear, long campaign with a good story, a fun and unique premade party for the PC, and lots of interesting sidequests more in the style of their Shadowrun games rather than doubling down on the random merc sandbox with a handful of missions.

That could also work.
But they went some middle of the road thing and it turned out not good.

 

[Jason Liang]

If Wolf's Dragoons can have Annihilator why can't every other shmuck?

Like a boss

 

[lightbane]

A good campaign (or at least one with a good story) won't happen anytime soon as long as they have that hideous thing as the main writer.

 

[Cael]

A linear, long campaign with a good story, a fun and unique premade party for the PC, and lots of interesting sidequests more in the style of their Shadowrun games rather than doubling down on the random merc sandbox with a handful of missions.

When one is only capable of "Squee! Kamea! Squee! Pretty! Squee, squee, squee! Kamea!" it is highly unlikely that anything interesting is going to come out of it. Even sandbox missions would end up repetitive and boring.

 

[Siveon]

A good campaign (or at least one with a good story) won't happen anytime soon as long as they have that hideous thing as the main writer.

I haven't been keeping up with their staff. Is this a new main writer, and not the one they used for the last games?

 

[Cael]

A good campaign (or at least one with a good story) won't happen anytime soon as long as they have that hideous thing as the main writer.

I haven't been keeping up with their staff. Is this a new main writer, and not the one they used for the last games?

New one for this particular game, AFAIK. Claims to be a big BTech nerd but don't know jack shit about the setting.

 

[Siveon]

A good campaign (or at least one with a good story) won't happen anytime soon as long as they have that hideous thing as the main writer.

I haven't been keeping up with their staff. Is this a new main writer, and not the one they used for the last games?

New one for this particular game, AFAIK. Claims to be a big BTech nerd but don't know jack shit about the setting.

Shame, I really could take something akin to Dragonfall or Hongkong but with mechs.

 

[Cael]

A good campaign (or at least one with a good story) won't happen anytime soon as long as they have that hideous thing as the main writer.

I haven't been keeping up with their staff. Is this a new main writer, and not the one they used for the last games?

New one for this particular game, AFAIK. Claims to be a big BTech nerd but don't know jack shit about the setting.

Shame, I really could take something akin to Dragonfall or Hongkong but with mechs.

Don't give them ideas. They already did the 1992 LA Riot in space with the main story. I shudder to think what they will do with Shadowrun if they port that to space. We'd have black and Hispanic 'mechwarriors fighting dragons and evululz white magicians while chanting the battlecry "For Trannies!!!"

 

[Bohr]

Also 'Season pass' now available, for $40 - for next three expansions

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/2320809

Arriving November 27: BATTLETECH: Flashpoint Expansion, Free 1.3 Update, and Localization Beta! Flashpoint Pre-Orders and Season Pass Now Available

We're excited to announce that BATTLETECH: Flashpoint, our very first BATTLETECH Expansion, will launch on November 27th!
Flashpoint adds new gameplay, endgame depth, 'Mechs, and over 30 hours of new Flashpoint content to your mercenary experience. It's available now for Pre-Purchase on Steam for 10% off. For more about Flashpoint, check out this new video overview with Mitch!

We've also made a new Season Pass available, which includes Flashpoint AND our next two BATTLETECH Expansions. (The next Expansion, we're excited to announce, will be titled Urban Warfare - we aren't ready to share any details on that just yet, but hopefully the name gives some idea what to expect from it. : ) The Season Pass will normally be $49.99 (a $10 savings) but for this week only it's on pre-sale for only $39.99 on Steam, GoG, and Paradox Plaza.


BATTLETECH Update 1.3 Details
Our next free update for BATTLETECH will also launch on November 27th! Update 1.3 adds and improves a bunch of stuff in the base game, including:

• An all-new Career Mode - Career Mode challenges you to begin the game with the Argo in a random system, with a random group of MechWarriors, with no story missions to rely on for big payouts. You wander the Periphery, taking contracts (and Flashpoints, if you have Flashpoint!) and managing your mercenary company to earn a final score. Career mode is played in Ironman mode by default, so it is also possible to “lose” this mode unrecoverably.
  
• Revamped MechWarrior abilities - We heard a bunch of feedback about the Bulwark ability and how you HAD to take it to finish the campaign and it got us thinking… and then revising Bulwark… and realizing that we should just rebalance the whole dang thing. Then we put it out as an opt-in Beta and got some great feedback - thanks! We’ve been working on it ever since and we’ll release the revised abilities in 1.3.
  
• Revisions to the Reputation System - We’ve increased the rate at which reputation rises and falls so you can really feel the effects of your actions. When you reach the maximum possible reputation with a faction, you become eligible for an Alliance. By entering into an Alliance, you mark yourself an ally of that faction - and an enemy of that faction's enemies. In addition to making higher difficulty contracts and salvage available, Alliances also allow you to access faction-specific stores containing items you might not find anywhere else.
  
• Black Market stores - If you play your cards right, criminal elements will allow you to buy access to the Black Market, where you’ll find some equipment that fell off a transport...
  
• More Events, including cameos from two Legendary MechWarriors (these were part of our social sharing Backer reward from the Kickstarter, and we expect the other two cameos to make it into the next free update.)
  
• New mercenary contracts - now you can take jobs from Pirates!
  
• New inventory items, including rare LosTech from before the fall of the Star League!
  
• And lots more bugfixes and quality of life improvements (like the ability to drag & drop ‘Mechs in the Mech Bay!)

If you haven't played in a while, also check out all the new features and improvements we've already added to the game in our free 1.1 Update and 1.2 Update. And we'll be continuing to release free updates at a similar cadence next year.


Localization Beta Incoming (French, German, and Russian)
We know it's been a long road for Backers awaiting localized versions of the game, and we really appreciate your patience. QA testing for localization is going well, and we're planning to release a public Localization Beta branch on Steam and GOG by the end of November. We're targeting November 27th, to release this Beta alongside Flashpoint and Update 1.3, but it may end up being slightly staggered to accommodate testing schedules. This opt-in branch will include French, German, and Russian localization of the base game (including the 1.3 update), as well as localization of Flashpoint for Flashpoint owners.

We expect the Localization Beta to remain open for at least a couple weeks, after which Localization will exit Beta and be released as a free update to the game on all distribution platforms.


Linux
Last month we released a Steam Beta branch of the Linux version of BATTLETECH. Thank you to everyone who's tested on that branch! We expect the Linux version to exit Beta on November 27th as part of the 1.3 Update on all distribution platforms.

And that's the news, folks! We can't wait for November 27th, and we're excited to already be diving into our next free update and pre-production on Urban Warfare.

-HBS

 

[santino27]

Bought the season pack. I'm weak, but I figure it'll give me something to play while I wait until 2020 for Kingmaker to be fully patched.

Edit: I only post in this subforum to collect enraged reactions.

 

[Ovplain]

Crazy price, no thanks.

Also, can't help but think it's kinda scummy that they aren't giving Kickstarter backers any special discounts for this. Or at least, it doesn't seem classy! Yeah, yeah, it wasn't part of the original campaign. Still. Without the backers, there wouldn't have been any of this shit. So maybe give an extra 5$ discount just to let them know you appreciate them.

 

[Rahdulan]

An all-new Career Mode - Career Mode challenges you to begin the game with the Argo in a random system, with a random group of MechWarriors, with no story missions to rely on for big payouts. You wander the Periphery, taking contracts (and Flashpoints, if you have Flashpoint!) and managing your mercenary company to earn a final score. Career mode is played in Ironman mode by default, so it is also possible to “lose” this mode unrecoverably.

Nice of them to add the Mercenary mode. All the more arguments in favor of waiting for the complete version before buying.

 

[Hellraiser]

I see the Paradox hivemind has assimilated them fully, they are following "the DLC milking must flow" directive fully.

Urban Warfare sounds interesting as does career mode. Dick move on not giving anything to the backers, not even a lousy discount, considering how fast they started working on the DLC.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Edit: I only post in this subforum to collect enraged reactions.

A noble purpose.

 

[Agesilaus]

Isn't this what happened with MW4? Vengeance and Black Knight were all about the story, and then Mercenary came out and gave a few enjoyable merc options about selecting different missions and serving different factions.

Bought the season pack. I'm weak, but I figure it'll give me something to play while I wait until 2020 for Kingmaker to be fully patched.

Edit: I only post in this subforum to collect enraged reactions.

I might do this, but it sounds like they calculated it incorrectly or else the saving is miniscule. They say that the Season Pass provides the 3 expansion packs at a reduced price, but the thing costs 50 dollars. Flashpoint costs 18 dollars (release sale), and I assume the other 2 will be priced similarly. So... 54 dollars?

If all I'm doing is saving 4 dollars, fuck that. For all I know, HBS's interest in SJW politics will develop into full blown aids and they'll cancel the last expansions because robots are racist or something. Or I simply won't give a toss about the game by the time the last one is out.

 

[santino27]

Isn't this what happened with MW4? Vengeance and Black Knight were all about the story, and then Mercenary came out and gave a few enjoyable merc options about selecting different missions and serving different factions.

Bought the season pack. I'm weak, but I figure it'll give me something to play while I wait until 2020 for Kingmaker to be fully patched.

Edit: I only post in this subforum to collect enraged reactions.

I might do this, but it sounds like they calculated it incorrectly or else the saving is miniscule. They say that the Season Pass provides the 3 expansion packs at a reduced price, but the thing costs 50 dollars. Flashpoint costs 18 dollars (release sale), and I assume the other 2 will be priced similarly. So... 54 dollars?

If all I'm doing is saving 4 dollars, fuck that. For all I know, HBS's interest in SJW politics will develop into full blown aids and they'll cancel the last expansions because robots are racist or something.

When they announced it, it was on sale for $39. Given the individual DLC costs, and the likelihood I'd buy them all, it was a good savings and worth me buying it then. Agreed that without a sale, there's no reason to buy the season pass instead of waiting for each of the individual DLCs.

 

[Agesilaus]

Isn't this what happened with MW4? Vengeance and Black Knight were all about the story, and then Mercenary came out and gave a few enjoyable merc options about selecting different missions and serving different factions.

Bought the season pack. I'm weak, but I figure it'll give me something to play while I wait until 2020 for Kingmaker to be fully patched.

Edit: I only post in this subforum to collect enraged reactions.

I might do this, but it sounds like they calculated it incorrectly or else the saving is miniscule. They say that the Season Pass provides the 3 expansion packs at a reduced price, but the thing costs 50 dollars. Flashpoint costs 18 dollars (release sale), and I assume the other 2 will be priced similarly. So... 54 dollars?

If all I'm doing is saving 4 dollars, fuck that. For all I know, HBS's interest in SJW politics will develop into full blown aids and they'll cancel the last expansions because robots are racist or something.

When they announced it, it was on sale for $39. Given the individual DLC costs, and the likelihood I'd buy them all, it was a good savings and worth me buying it then. Agreed that without a sale, there's no reason to buy the season pass instead of waiting for each of the individual DLCs.

Ah, $39 does make a lot more sense to me. I will probably buy Flashpoint at its current 10% off price, unless another sale is announced on the season pass.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Isn't this what happened with MW4? Vengeance and Black Knight were all about the story, and then Mercenary came out and gave a few enjoyable merc options about selecting different missions and serving different factions.

but the expansions arrived a year or two later and it took even longer for mercs, which was an entirely different game (despite being the same. "still the same, but different"). also computers were much, MUCH more limited and nothing had been promised before taking money.