KickStarter BATTLETECH - turn-based mech combat from Harebrained Schemes

[Matalarata]

A question for any local BTA 3062 expert, I'm at the beginning of my first career. I've just done half a dozen missions so far so I'm sticking to contract rated from half a skull up to 1.5 to keep it easy. Got two contracts that require me to travel to another system, both rated 1 skull. I tried both of them and the first one (which admittedly has a bit of fluff about a "powerful commstar 'mech") spawns 2 lances of Heavy 'mechs while the second one just sends in 1 Mauler (healthy except for a missing ERLL), 1 Catapult, 1 P.Hawk and another medium I cannot currently name. I manage to kill the PK and get the mauler down to half health and the game drops a reinforcement lance of similar tonnage, right behind my squishy LRM boat.

I attempted both mission twice and I noticed that during the loading screen with the Leopard dropping your lance, the first mission is now rated 4.5 skulls and the second is "just" 4 skulls. I double and triple checked, those were both listed as 1 skull, in the list of operations.

Is this normal behaviour? Known bug? Engine limitation? I understand having some variability in difficulty, but this is a bit too extreme imho. Am I missing something?

 

[lightbane]

Just to be sure I'm doing this right: Battletech Mod Manager no longer works with the 1.8 and above version, right?
And the 3025 mod is actually a bunch of separate mods rolled together, is that so?
Is it normal that the character you control has no voice, or is it there a voice selector somewhere I haven't found yet?

 

[Cael]

A question for any local BTA 3062 expert, I'm at the beginning of my first career. I've just done half a dozen missions so far so I'm sticking to contract rated from half a skull up to 1.5 to keep it easy. Got two contracts that require me to travel to another system, both rated 1 skull. I tried both of them and the first one (which admittedly has a bit of fluff about a "powerful commstar 'mech") spawns 2 lances of Heavy 'mechs while the second one just sends in 1 Mauler (healthy except for a missing ERLL), 1 Catapult, 1 P.Hawk and another medium I cannot currently name. I manage to kill the PK and get the mauler down to half health and the game drops a reinforcement lance of similar tonnage, right behind my squishy LRM boat.

I attempted both mission twice and I noticed that during the loading screen with the Leopard dropping your lance, the first mission is now rated 4.5 skulls and the second is "just" 4 skulls. I double and triple checked, those were both listed as 1 skull, in the list of operations.

Is this normal behaviour? Known bug? Engine limitation? I understand having some variability in difficulty, but this is a bit too extreme imho. Am I missing something?

It happens even in the base game. And it was a known thing back when the game was in early access. HBS calls it a "feature": "Your intelligence is not 100% accurate."

 

[Lone Wolf]

Is this normal behaviour?

From memory, there is some mechanic whereby the contract ratings don't always reflect the difficulty of the mission (sort of an operational 'fog of war'). One clear example would be Clanner missions (as in, Clans as OPFOR), where a half star contract is the equivalent to three or four stars in vanilla.

 

[Matalarata]

Yes but... A one skull contract, from my starting planet, morphing into a 4? Le fuq? This is literally trolling, if intentional. Fun fact is, I'm pretty sure I could have won that 4 skulls one, if the reinforcement lance wasn't dropped exactly on top of an hill, facing the back of my formation and my squishiest but most damaging units. The AI is so bland that I'm seriously quesitoning if I should lose more of my time with this, if those kind of "features" are what's considered balance, by either the devs or the mod team.

HBS calls it a "feature"

How does HBS calls a combat log then? I suppose implying you could be vaguely interested in what those 12 overlapping messages the game superimposed one on top of the other in the span of ~3.5 sec would be akin to gatekeeping. Reading-impaired players must be given the chance to have fun, playing with stompy robots like childs.

 

[Cael]

HBS calls it a "feature"

How does HBS calls a combat log then? I suppose implying you could be vaguely interested in what those 12 overlapping messages the game superimposed one on top of the other in the span of ~3.5 sec would be akin to gatekeeping. Reading-impaired players muste be given the chance to have fun, playing with stompy robots like childs.

"An unnecessary distraction from the gorgeous look of the game. We did it for you, you fucking ungrateful bitches! Learn to like it and slurp Kevin's delicious asshole!"

 

[lightbane]

Found a portrait selector mod with actual human beings for faces, as well as wrecking the pronoun selector to display voice types for your MC. Why wasn't this a feature in the main game?

The AI is so bland that I'm seriously quesitoning if I should lose more of my time with this, if those kind of "features" are what's considered balance, by either the devs or the mod team.

About that: Is the "Improved AI" mod worth it? Unless you're using a mod to increase the number of units you can field at once, you're always at a disadvantage regarding the enemy side.

How does HBS calls a combat log then? I suppose implying you could be vaguely interested in what those 12 overlapping messages the game superimposed one on top of the other in the span of ~3.5 sec would be akin to gatekeeping. Reading-impaired players must be given the chance to have fun, playing with stompy robots like childs.

Some mods including the Advanced 3062 one include a proper combat log, supposedly. I agree the quick messages don't help at all, especially when the mech seems fine in one second, the rest is on fire and breaking apart. The messages go crazy displaying the damage.

 

[Matalarata]

Some mods including the Advanced 3062 one include a proper combat log, supposedly

Wait. I'm using advanced 3062 but I found no proper combat log, only some tags and icons affixed to units under specific effects, those can be found on the unit card. What I want is a log of all the combat rolls or at least the attacks, weapon used, attacker and target etc, etc...

If such feature is present, do you know how to activate it?

About that: Is the "Improved AI" mod worth it? Unless you're using a mod to increase the number of units you can field at once, you're always at a disadvantage regarding the enemy side.

It's supposedly packaged with BTA, I have zero experience with the vanilla game, since I more or less abandoned the cringe worthy campaign. I don't find the AI to be even remotely aware of positioning though...

 

[lightbane]

If such feature is present, do you know how to activate it?

I've been trying this one which indlues a combat log supposedly, but I cannot make it work so far.
Something about missing a "master" file even though I installed everything.
https://github.com/BattletechModders/IRTweaks

 

[lightbane]

In the end I decided to go with the ultimate mod: Uninstall.exe.
The game is just too slow and boring. Even with mods that should take care of that, it still takes forever to finish the mandatory tutorial mission forced on you whenever you start the regular campaign. Worse, you only lose money from that due the nature of it, so it's a shitty start that wastes both your RL time and in-game money.
Even Nu-XCOM devs knew to replace the tutorial mission for a more normal one if you skipped the intro. I think I'll watch a LP of the main campaign so that I know someone else is suffering through it, as well as to fast-forward the boring parts, then decide whether 3042 or RT is worth a look... Sometime in the future.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

roguetech has no forced tutorial mission.

 

[lightbane]

Neither does the Advanced mod, as you're forced to start with the Career Mode, which thankfully has no mandatory intro mission.

 

[Cael]

In the end I decided to go with the ultimate mod: Uninstall.exe.
The game is just too slow and boring. Even with mods that should take care of that, it still takes forever to finish the mandatory tutorial mission forced on you whenever you start the regular campaign. Worse, you only lose money from that due the nature of it, so it's a shitty start that wastes both your RL time and in-game money.
Even Nu-XCOM devs knew to replace the tutorial mission for a more normal one if you skipped the intro. I think I'll watch a LP of the main campaign so that I know someone else is suffering through it, as well as to fast-forward the boring parts, then decide whether 3042 or RT is worth a look... Sometime in the future.

Intro missions that you can't skip is always a mistake, and no surprise that HBS immediately put it in. The fucktards are absolutely USELESS as game developers, but are high up there in the fat tranny stakes.

 

[lightbane]

Intro missions that you can't skip is always a mistake, and no surprise that HBS immediately put it in. The fucktards are absolutely USELESS as game developers, but are high up there in the fat tranny stakes.

To be fair, it is not a thing in the career mode, which should have been the default one, but I wished to check the campaign. IMO mandatory intro missions aren't that big deal if they're fun (which they're not here). Even in NU-XCOM they knew to give you something for your trouble, even is if the feeling that aliens can be defeated and thus your team has a chance. Meanwhile, in Woketech, what you learn in the first mission is that people can screw you for no particular reason, even though by doing so, that company should have had its future gone for sure due betraying the Commstar's Merc Rating Board Trust thing. Even in the MW2 Mercenaries missions where your client clearly sets you up, you still got paid due following the rules, not so here due *reasons*. I wouldn't have minded if you still got some salvage as a gameplay reward, but no dice. Funnily enough, even fucking pirates honor their word and reward you when you do missions for them. All of that was to lazily set up the point that your company is in a dire situation, so that the snowflake princess can step in and force you to follow her by paying all of the debts that have mysteriously accumulated for *reasons*. The Merc Company of MW2M was small enough to not even have Dropships of their own, and yet this wasn't the case. Lazy writing is lazy.
Speaking of: There's clearly an agenda pushing thing seen everywhere: From the hilariously "diverse" people in the Aurigan place (except for white males, of course), to how the game forces the female pronouns by default whenever you create a new MC, how the names are mundane and usually from "diverse" origins more often than not (we're speaking of a sci-fi setting where there are surnames like Kerensky, Davion, or Steiner, but instead you get dull random selections like Colt or *insert mudslime surname here*), the absolutely hideous portraits, especially the female ones, and so on.
Mods fix many things, but when they're too many of them, something inevitably breaks and you don't always know what's that.

Then there are some baffling decisions which I'm not sure if they're due incompetence or malevolence, like the lying on the mission difficulty section due "bad intelligence", which sounds incredibly bad (outside of scenarios like fighting the Clans for the first time). Or the shit interface and slow-as-fuck gameplay, or the incoherent interface, etc.
Hell, even the mechs look wrong for some reason, nor you can't paint them much or apply vibrant color patterns unlike the other MW games for some reason, leaving them looking dull IMO.
Perhaps I should invest in learning how Megamek works and play the Tabletop game with that program or something.


TL, DR: This title is wasted potential at best, a complete waste of your time at worst. If there were better alternatives regarding modern mech games, this wouldn't be even given a pass by most, but there aren't many lately.

Sad to see how the Shadowrun games were quite good and ended up with something like this. I haven't played much of the former, but I bet not even at their worst the game was so terminally slow-paced as HBSTech here due shitty programming.

 

[Cael]

In MW2 Mercs, if you went for the 5mill mission, you got nothing, I'm afraid. However, they did warn you beforehand that there was a gang going around offering too good to be true deals to rob mercs of their 'mechs. It was also an optional mission that has nothing to do with the campaign missions, so you lost nothing if you didn't take it.

This one starts with the fucking robbery with no chance for you to avoid it.

Anyone who gives any more money to HBS should be chlorinated from the genepool.

 

[lightbane]

n MW2 Mercs, if you went for the 5mill mission, you got nothing, I'm afraid. However, they did warn you beforehand that there was a gang going around offering too good to be true deals to rob mercs of their 'mechs. It was also an optional mission that has nothing to do with the campaign missions, so you lost nothing if you didn't take it.

I just remembered about this one. Yes, it's an outlier, but you STILL can get salvage here at least. HBS starts with a robbery and gives you nothing for it, even though realistically NO-ONE could have stopped you from getting at least 1d3 mech parts, since those that hired you have shitty tanks unable to threaten anything besides light mechs, that you blew up right before leaving.

Does that happen again in non-campaign, randomly generated missions? Since it's scripted encounter to point out how terrible your company is economics-wise due *reasons*. As mentioned before, even pirates keep their word here and give their good word about you in the Merc network.

 

[Cael]

n MW2 Mercs, if you went for the 5mill mission, you got nothing, I'm afraid. However, they did warn you beforehand that there was a gang going around offering too good to be true deals to rob mercs of their 'mechs. It was also an optional mission that has nothing to do with the campaign missions, so you lost nothing if you didn't take it.

I just remembered about this one. Yes, it's an outlier, but you STILL can get salvage here at least. HBS starts with a robbery and gives you nothing for it, even though realistically NO-ONE could have stopped you from getting at least 1d3 mech parts, since those that hired you have shitty tanks unable to threaten anything besides light mechs, that you blew up right before leaving.

Does that happen again in non-campaign, randomly generated missions? Since it's scripted encounter to point out how terrible your company is economics-wise due *reasons*. As mentioned before, even pirates keep their word here and give their good word about you in the Merc network.

Nope. You never get shafted ever again.

The first mission is another HBS railroading you so that you can have that meeting after the "close escape" and set up you having a mountain of debt, etc. Which is all utter bullshit in the first place. There is no way the banks can corner the JumpShip market like it claims. The PIRATES can get from system to system to raid them, for Pete's sake. There are always JumpShip captains who are willing to look the other way when transporting less than desirable people. Your crew should be far away from the Periphery and into the Inner Sphere, if what they want is a good contract, and there is nothing anyone can do about it other than send bounty hunters after you.

So, instead of just telling you, as any good introduction would have done, they want you to feeeeeeeeeel it. Like Kevin said: They did it FOR YOU!!!!!!!

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

for as much as i hate these trannyhuggers... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ATasteOfPower

 

[lightbane]

^That barely applies here, as the mecha you see in the prologue are clearly not yours, nor are that great compared with what you can get later. It has nothing to do with forcing you in an impossible situation because of wanting to force the player in a specific scenario.

 

[Cael]

Not to mention that can be done in the first combat mission with the mary sue my little pony princess. The thing is, that one can be skipped, and there is no way HBS is going to let you get away with not playing another of their beautifully created scenarios which they did FOR YOOOOOUUUUUU!!!!!!!

 

[Cael]

So, I decided to give this stupid game a second chance and see if Career mode is any better.

To make it more difficult for myself, I decided to change the settings to be:
- randomised starting 'mechs
- enemy force set to Hard
- rare advanced mechwarriors (i.e., you will recruit recruits)
- 'mechwarriors advance very slowly (you only get 20% of standard XP, from what I can see)
- stingy on contract cash reward (i.e., salvage or bust)
- blow up CT and the 'mech is perma-gone (harder to salvage stuff)
- incapacitated 'mechwarriors are always dead (you get cored, you lose that 'mechwarrior)

Probably a few other things as well. Final modifier comes out to be 1.0 or thereabouts.

The start was pretty encouraging. I got an Enforcer, a Blackjack, a Spider and two Commandos (SRM version). Certainly looks to be more difficult than the campaign start with the medium 'mech lineup.

So, first mission was a seek and destroy mission. 1 or 1.5 skulls. Ran into a couple of Locusts, a couple of Galleons, a Striker, a Scorpion MkII and a Jenner. Beat it pretty easily and walked away with the Jenner and a Locust.

Continued to complete the contracts on the starting planet. Nothing too exciting, but ended up with 4 Locusts, 1 Flea and 1 of each type of Commando in storage plus another Flea that I was using (due to the Jenner getting banged up in one of the missions). Sold some of them, bought a double heat sink (started on a SLDF planet), Started work on the first 'Mech Bay upgrade, hired a spare 'mechwarrior and got a contract to another planet. Note that this is still the first day.

So, started travelling to the next planet on a contract. After the first day, I got a crate. In it, a standard Vulcan (AC2 variant), a LB10-X plus ammo and a M-COIL. OK. Still nothing too outrageous. A nice boost, but not game ending. Travel is 25 days, so I modified the Enforcer (L10-X + 3 med lasers + max armour and jump jets), Blackjack (AC10 + 2 med lasers + max armour and jump jets), and Jenner (2 med laser + max jump jets + everything else into armour; this is basically my replacement for the Spider).

The contract on the second planet was an assassinate the sillibitty mission for the pirate faction (which is why I took it; play nice with the pirates!). It is a 2 skull mission, so really shouldn't be that bad. Took the Enforcer, Blackjack, Vulcan (unmodified) and Jenner. When the mission started, they showed me the 'mech the sillibitty is piloting. An Orion. And he has a lance backing him up, which I later found out to be a Locust (SRM), a Gallant Urban vehicle, a Striker (NARC) and a Vulcan (AC2).

OK, how many of you are now shitting your pants and crying in the corner?





No seriously. Be honest. How many of you would have aborted after running into that support lance and knowing there is an Orion on the way?




Well, guess what?

Spoiler

The Vulcan lost its left arm and torso (1 MG and 1 med laser), but the rest were just minor armour breaches. The salvage included replacements for those anyway, so I am not fussed. It also included a AC10++, a SRM2+ and a LRM10++.

Note that this is way, way, WAY before the Tactics 9 and Marauder Called Shot shenannigans.

How can anyone call this game hard in any way, shape or form? Seriously, what the fuck, HBS???

 

[lightbane]

Yep, you're good enough to break the regular game indeed, if you know the OG tabletop game and/or have experience with these kind of games. Pretty much you have to use one of the main mods to extract some enjoyment (or at least faster loading times), as well as having proper adversaries in the form of the Clans, for example. The hax "easier called shots" ability is nerfed in all of the main mods, to start.
Supposedly I read complains that getting pilots wounded is too easy, whether due the pilots hitting the console with their heads due the mech falling over, torso sections being broken, and so on. That's one of the things mods supposedly fix. Have you noticed such issue in your play-through, Cael?
Are padded walls and seat-belts lost-tech in-setting?

 

[Cael]

Yep, you're good enough to break the regular game indeed, if you know the OG tabletop game and/or have experience with these kind of games. Pretty much you have to use one of the main mods to extract some enjoyment (or at least faster loading times), as well as having proper adversaries in the form of the Clans, for example. The hax "easier called shots" ability is nerfed in all of the main mods, to start.
Supposedly I read complains that getting pilots wounded is too easy, whether due the pilots hitting the console with their heads due the mech falling over, torso sections being broken, and so on. That's one of the things mods supposedly fix. Have you noticed such issue in your play-through, Cael?
Are padded walls and seat-belts lost-tech in-setting?

Tabletop rules states that you get 1 'mechwarrior hit if you get shot in the head. 2 hits if an ammo explodes, but of course, before the advent of CASE (i.e., 2750 era or 3050 era and beyond), that usually totals the 'mech anyway, so it is moot. If you fall, you make a Piloting roll to avoid a hit. All 'mechwarriors have 6 hits. It is virtually impossible to kill a 'mechwarrior other than through a shot that removes the head or cracks it right in the cockpit (e.g., PPC shot to the head that crits the cockpit) without CASE in the picture. The side torso thing is complete made up shit.

If you want to salvage a 'mech relatively intact in 3025, your best bet is to leg the thing via targeted kicks.

Note that in the HBS game, ammo blowing up in a location just removes that location. The damage doesn't transfer. In the tabletop, you can kiss the 'mech goodbye because damage transfers... internally.

The wounded 'mechwarriors in the game actually helps to add a bit of challenge to the game as the AI cheats by hitting the head far more often than it should. That is why I modify a Locust with minimum head armour specially for Behemoth and stick it up front. It is a fairly reliable way to ensure the tranny cunt hits the game's version of a IED for maximum irony points. It is less useful for the players unless the player knows specifically what they are doing to take advantage of the rules.

For example:

Spoiler

In the fight with the Orion I posted earlier, I started that segment of the mission with the Vulcan's armour already breached on the left arm. The Jenner had caught a back shot from the Striker and went internal. Everyone was damaged in one form or another.

Everyone was hidden behind a rock that was sticking out of a lake. The Orion was approaching from the other side.

Round 1: Everyone reserves. Orion charges in. Everyone ends turn.
Round 2: Everyone reserves again. Orion charges in closer. Everyone jumps out. To the Orion's left, the Enforcer fires the LB10-X and the Vulcan the AC2. To its right, the Blackjack fires the AC10. Jenner is to the left and slightly behind, but holds fire.
Round 3: Everyone except Blackjack runs in to melee. Orion falls over (1 hit). Blackjack waits until Orion gets up before firing the AC10 to maximise stability damage to the next round. Orion unloads on Vulcan, blowing the left torso off.
Round 4: Everyone melees. Orion falls over (2 hits). Orion gets up and unloads on the Enforcer. Armour breached on Enforcer (one of the torsos, I think).
Round 5: More melee attacks. Orion's right arm gets blown off. It makes a run for it.
Round 6: Enforcer jumps and unloads the LB10-X into the wounded side. It was enough to blow the torso off and knock the Orion over (4 hits). Pilot incapacitated.

Of course, knowing all the 'mechs and what they can do is vital to any fight. I cringe when I watch Let's Plays where people blindly rush into combat without a single clue as to what their opponents can do. I have seen idiots complain about melee attacks being useless and bad because they never hit. Their target was a Vulcan... *facepalm*

Spoiler

Never, EVER melee a Vulcan. Always shoot it. In the back if possible.

Some even outright admit they have never seen that 'mech before and wonder what it can do, but never examine the 'mech to actually see what it can do. Those are the kind of idiots the HBS game is aimed at, I guess.

 

[Cael]

What about the changes given by the DLCs like the Raven and EMC, Flashpoints and the career mode?

Just to see if you have a point, I played this a bit for the Flashpoints.

Note that at this point in the game, my lineup is the following:

2x Marauder-2R (Royal variant) - Cockpit Module ++, Gyro ++ (3 Hit Defence), Gauss Rifle ++ (-2 tons, -1 slot), 2x Gauss ammo, 6x Medium Laser++ (+10 damage), 4x jump jets, max armour, 4x Arm Mod (+20 stability damage), 2x Leg Mod (-10 self DFA damage)
1x Marauder-2R (Royal variant) - Rangefinder +++, Gyro ++ (3 Hit Defence), Gauss Rifle ++ (-2 tons, -1 slot), 2x Gauss ammo, 6x Medium Laser++ (+10 damage), 4x jump jets, max armour, 4x Arm Mod (+20 stability damage), 2x Leg Mod (-10 self DFA damage)
1x Atlas II - Comm System +++, Gyro ++ (3 Hit Defence), Gauss Rifle ++ (-2 tons, -1 slot), 2x Gauss ammo, 2x LRM15+++ (+2 stability damage, +50% crit), 4x LRM ammo, 2x Snub PPC++ (+10 stability damage), 3x jump jets, max armour, 6x Arm Mod (+20 stability damage), Thermal Exchanger++

Some highlights:
1 random "Defend and Attack" mission. 5 skulls.

Spoiler

- started with 2 enemy lances in the field. 7 assault 'mechs , 1 Warhammer.
- 4 enemy turrets (assault style Sniper and LRM)
- 1 turn later, an enemy lance drops in. 4 assault 'mechs (Atlas, Battlemaster, Awesome, Victor)
- 6 turns later, another enemy lance drops in. 3 assault 'mechs, 1 heavy (Orion, I think).
- 3 turns later, another enemy lance drops in. 3 assault 'mechs, 1 heavy (2x Zeus)
- 3 turns later, last enemy lance drops in. 2x Victors, Battlemaster, Grasshopper.

That is 20x assault 'mechs, 4x heavy 'mechs and 4x assault turrets.

I had 3x heavy 'mechs configured as snipers and 1x assault 'mech configured for stability damage. This is a base defence mission in an urban map.

End result: None of my 'mechs had even an armour breach. None of my buildings went down. I salvaged the equivalent of more than 4x assault 'mechs.

Flashpoint Bourbon & Battlemechs

Spoiler

Given by: Justin Allard, "legendary 'mechwarrior", Federated Suns
Problems:
1. Justin Allard would not be FedSun at this point in time. He would be CapCon, or on the way there (i.e., freelancer fighting on Solaris VII).
2. Justin was not a legendary 'mechwarrior when he was with the FedSun. He gained that reputation afterwards when he killed Grey Norton on Solaris VII. On Kittery, he was the leader of a training battalion of country bumpkins and rejects.
3. Justin would also not hire a merc to deal with his problem. He would have handled it himself. The guy is a highly trained intelligence agent and a superb 'mechwarrior. He doesn't need you to kill a gnat for him.
Verdict:
Complete lore rape.

Flashpoint A House Divided

Spoiler

Given by: House Nakano, Draconis Combine
Problems:
1. The planet mentioned is in Kurita space. That is on the OTHER SIDE of the Inner Sphere from where you are (which is in Davion space!).
2. The Japanese mother has a blonde, blue-eyed daughter.
Verdict:
Lore rape and completely retarded.
Supremely utterly retarded: If you side with the daughter, she begs you not to kill the mother. However, the mother goes and commit sepukku anyway if you let her live, and the daughter is all sorts of fine with that. So, just shoot the mother's Grasshopper in the head and salvage the heaviest 'mech on the field for yourself. You actually dupe yourself out of a bigger payday by playing nice for absolutely no gain.
Oh, and you don't gain Kurita rep. House Nakano is like the Planetary Governments. You don't get rep for or against.

Flashpoint Prototype

Spoiler

Given by: House Marik
Problems:
1. Restricted weight for absolutely no reason. There is absolutely no lore or in game reason why there is a weight restriction.
2. The last mission have you piloting the Raven with 3 pre-determined stock 'mechs and useless 'mechwarriors. The problem? The Raven is a flaming piece of junk. The ECM it carries can be neutralised by a simple sensor lock. That means your light 'mech with thin armour can be taken down hard by just about anyone because all its "super-duper, crazy powerful tech" will do is make ONE guy on the other side miss a turn. What. The. Fuck???
3. You can give the bloody thing to anyone under the sun and you don't lose rep with the others. Honestly. Everyone contacts you and scream for the thing. You give it to one of them and the rest just goes, "Well... OK. *walks away*"
4. It opens up ECM 'mechs in the game. Yes, I said 'mechs. The super-duper Raven is immediately made obsolete by the Cataphract-0X. Double the Raven's weight, with an inbuilt ECM. All the advantages of the Raven, with none of the down sides. If you run into it, Sensor Lock it first, blow it up and then continue on as normal. It is a speed bump, nothing more.
5. Yes, ECM made the already OP Tactics tree even more OP. Congrats, HBS, you fucking retards.
6. Also, the Raven did not enter full production until 3028, so there is an awful lot of prototypes running around in 3025. And let's not mention those "prototype" Cataphracts...
Verdict:
Complete lore rape.

Flashpoint Joint Venture

Spoiler

Given by: House Steiner
Problems:
1. The Hatchetman itself. It is, not to put too fine a point to it, pretty shit. It is supposed to be a melee 'mech, but it only has 2 Support hardpoints. Why? It mounts a AC10 on a 45ton frame. Why? Also, a melee 'mech with speed 4? Why??? To say I am not a fan of the thing, even on tabletop, is an understatement.

'Mech Design 101
If you have short range weapons, mount them on a fast chassis so that they can actually get in there and do something. This rule is also called "The AC20. Why You Are Doing It Wrong."

2. The Hatchetman was designed by Dr Banzai and first manufactured in Lyran Commonwealth space, nowhere close to the Periphery.
3. Pretty boring Flashpoint.
Verdict:
Lore rape.

Flashpoint The Long Hunt

Spoiler

Given by: House Kurita
Problems:
1. A Davion Colonel doing a massacre of civilians, even Kurita civilians, and Hanse Davion would allow it? Not according to the books! This is 3025 we are talking about, not 3067 Steiner FedComm pretenders!
2. Again, a pretty boring Flashpoint.
Verdict:
Lore rape ahoy!

Flashpoint The Opportunist

Spoiler

Given by: House Davion
Problems:
1. Hanse Davion's "pleasure yacht"... is an Overlord-class DropShip carrying an entire battalion of 'mechs and enough firepower to level entire assault lances and a crew of 43. It is called Camelot.

Verdict:
Lore rape

At this point, I am not even sure I want to continue. At every single turn, the fuckers at HBS rape the established lore. As I said, Weissmann has no fucking clue about the setting. His only claim to fame is that he was part of FASA.

 

[lightbane]

Flashpoint Bourbon & Battlemechs

What's the mission about then?
That Defend mission also seems to have a stupidly large number of enemies coming down on your head. Weren't mechs supposed to be rare and hard to produce?

Flashpoint A House Divided

Funny that the weaboo girl is blue-eyed and blonde, while you're not allowed to be so for your MC due *reasons*. Lore rape is to be expected after the shit that is the regular campaign. The fact no changes are done to Reputation either way sounds lame.

Flashpoint Prototype

The restriction is artificial and obviously meant to stop you from spamming Assaults... But that doesn't work if the enemy continues to have the number superiority. As for Kuritas complaining about killing civvies... Aren't they the ones doing that REGULARLY? MW2 Mercs pointed that out, and even had you work as a part-time terrorist to force tension with another House. Against all odds they do not kill you to hide their dishonorable behaviour, but I guess that's because of game mechanics.

Which one is worse BTW? Kurita or Liao? Sometimes they seem to overlap to me.