Incline Battletech: The Crescent Hawks Inception

[Deuce Traveler]

So, I'm replaying some of Battletech: The Crescent Hawks Inception for the first time in three decades. I loved the game so much that I put up the poster of the sequel (Crescent Hawks Revenge) in my bedroom back in high school. The second half of the game is a bit of a slog, so I'm not likely to play it through its entirety. I spent a couple hours on it yesterday, and I can already tell that there's a lot here to unpack and this game does deserve a better Codex thread than what we already have.

You play Jason Youngblood, the son of a war hero on an important Lyran Commonwealth world near the border of the aggressive Draconis Combine. Your family is so popular that you can just walk up to Katrina Steiner (ruler of the Commonwealth) and say hello to her in her palace. Why Katrina Steiner would decide to headquarter herself near the border of a long-time enemy is beyond me.

I remember you can play the stock market, so I found the place to do so and tossed my meager starting cash into some risky venture. Then I tried to rest and see what the results of my purchase was, but the game won't let you do so until you go on a training mission.

I failed my first training mission because I didn't take the note of a speed limit seriously and I took too long exploring the training area. The next quest was much easier, and my investments in the stock market took off and I used some of the money to train up my skills in sub-machine guns and rifles. So yes, this is a skill-based CRPG. I also exploited the stock market, which updates quite fast, and ended up with skills in mech repair and owning a sub-machine gun and flak suit.

The mech combat is a lot easier to navigate than I thought it would be, despite the age of the game and keyboard controls. I may have an edge here since I grew up playing the tabletop Battletech 3025 game, and this CRPG is based closely on that ruleset. I'm at the final training mission where I keep having my Chameleon blown out from underneath me, but I'm going to keep trying and see if I can flee the area with the mech in my possession. So far this game is as fun as I remember.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

I wish the Harebrained Scheme´s Battletech was actually more like this - an actual RPG where you get to move around on your own two feet as well as in a mech... pity they didnt take this route...

 

[octavius]

I remember playing a pirated copy on my Amiga an enjoying it, but couldn't complete it due to some copy protection scheme (having to consult a map in the manual or something). When I tried to replay it I was turned off by the real time combat (or was it just real time exploration?).

 

[Fowyr]

I finished it 16 years ago, great game. I remember that, looking in the .exe, probably there is some way to blow up Arena and leave it in your new mech. Have you found it?
Last puzzle, with colored cards, that opened Federation cache, was completely not fun.

When I tried to replay it I was turned off by the real time combat (or was it just real time exploration?).

I think that combat itself was turn-based.

BTW, if you liked this game, there is a great mecha roguelike, Gear Head.
http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php/GearHead

 

[octavius]

I seem to recall that I was able to do that. Something with aiming at a spectator.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

There are a few key things I remember about this game:

Spoiler

• The stock market in the starting city has one share (Bakphar?) that randomly doubles or halves every time and this happens at the same time you get paid. So, dump all your funds into that share and save the game just before getting paid. If the stock halves, reload and try again. Soon enough you will effectively have infinite money.
• You can keep the Chameleon training mech by outrunning the Jenners attacking the city during the last training mission. Its probably the best mech available in the game.
• No need for you or your party to use any hand weapons except for the SRM or inferno and you can buy these immediately with funds obtained as above. They one-hit-kill any enemies on foot.
• You need the manual/map to navigate and complete the final base.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

- So no, I haven't found the way to get the Chameleon out successfully yet. The Jenners swarm me and kill me before I can escape although I'm not done trying. But yes, the Chameleon is the best mech in the game since if I remember right it has the largest tonnage of all playable mechs (this is a game of light and medium mechs).

- The game is turn-based, but you can let the computer play for you. The computer is quite stupid though and runs straight at the enemy, firing everything and running up its heat. Running up heat too high in Battletech is a bad idea.

- Good note on the SRM and Inferno. I'll play the stock market and save scum to exploit in order to start with this. I maxed out Jason's firearms skills but he still is unable to kill the 2-3 guys he encounters when on foot (after losing the Chameleon).

- The last base and the use of its colored cards was one unfun slog. Making your game ending lame just so you can try and defeat people who pirated your game; dumbest anti-piracy decision ever.

- Although I beat this game years ago, I never did beat the original Mechwarrior. I never followed all of the clues to avenge my family and instead just started taking mercenary missions that interested me and ended up with the best pilots and mechs in the game while the family revenge plot line expired.

--- Update: Ho ho ho! Now I have a Chameleon! The trick was to escape west through the main exit of the city and not try to slip southeast. I have an undamaged Chameleon now. I think I did manage to escape southeast ages ago, but my mech was badly shot up when I did... oh, and I have a SRM launcher for Jason to carry around in a out-of-mech gunfight.

 

[Ladonna]

If you want the Chameleon you just run away, don't fight the Jenners. It will make the rest of the game very easy though.

Stockmarket is easy to screw up. I left basic training with more credits than I ever needed for the rest of the game.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Aright, so I got stuck in the northern city you retreat to with Jason Youngblood, this time following your guys advice and taking a rocket launcher instead of a machine gun. And you were right. I can actually survive battles and kill people now. I ran around the entire city without knowing what to do next, then finally gave up and looked at a walkthrough. It looks like I could have reduced the numbers of random encounters in the city by going inside a small building I must have missed and purchasing clothes to blend in. But I also found out from reading the walkthrough that you are actually punished by going through the Academy quickly and successfully, since your skills will never actually increase once you leave the Academy. So I was stuck with a battlemech pilot who had adequate firing and piloting skills.

Also, by the time I got to the 2nd city, I was so shot up and so broke that I couldn't seem to progress. I could never heal my injuries and damage to my body armor enough.

I restarted the game and played the stock market, using scum saving to make sure I left the Academy with loads of money. I failed the 6th mission over and over again until Jason Youngblood had an excellent piloting and gunnery skill. Looking at the walkthrough, I can also say that there isn't much to do. I came away realizing that Westwood Studios probably had a limited budget and timetable, so they made a great basis for a game, but couldn't fill it with actual content. So it looks like they padded out the game time with a horribly high amount of random encounters that encourages save scumming (random fights every 10 or so steps it seems) and some really drawn out puzzles in the second half.

Oddly, this makes the Academy portion of the game the most fun. If there was ever a game that could benefit from a modern remake, this would be it.

Remake Ideas:
- Keep the mech combat gameplay close to as is
- Drop the stock market exploit
- Drop the out-of-mech combat
- Take out the out-of-mech combat skills, but keep the maintenance/salvage skills
- Switch out the random encounters with scripted event encounters
- Modernize the mouse interface
- Instead of choosing between the original and a better, pre-determined loadout, broaden the mech customization to being able to make real modifications in armor and weapon loadout
- Add more mechs, including heavy and assault mechs for later game
- Drop the retarded puzzles
- Include more content where your character basically runs a guerrilla operation, liberating more cities and having more set encounters as you go. Battles should go from a single mech out on its own surviving against other light mechs and vehicles, to mostly light mech lances fighting light mech lances, to gradually increase to using a three-lance company comprising of large and assault mechs towards the end
- Make it impossible to graduate with more than a basic piloting and gunnery skill. Jason Youngblood should instead increase his skills from combat encounters. Perhaps other mech pilots do not increase their skills or increase their skills more slowly, to make Jason seem more of a badass
- Redo the economy so you make money from salvage
- The dialogue in the game is written for kids, but its fine as it does give a greater sense of the game universe. Upgrade the reading level of the dialogue and broaden snippets and discussions of the game universe and its Great House politics
- Increase the amount of Crescent Hawk pilots and crews that you can rescue, hire, enlist

 

[octavius]

Now that you mention it I remember how stupid it was that you could't increase your stats once you left the academy.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Yes, there hasn't really been a game since that scratches the same itch. Even the sequel was more of a squad RTS than an RPG.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Yes, there hasn't really been a game since that scratches the same itch. Even the sequel was more of a squad RTS than an RPG.

MechCommander did scratch the itch, but without the RPG elements. So yeah, Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception might be the only franchise video game in history that merged the tabletop combat with the RPG elements.