KickStarter BATTLETECH - turn-based mech combat from Harebrained Schemes

[Olinser]

The whole 'unseen' mechs was always ludicrous to me.

"BattleTech is a solid tactics game, but I’m not convinced there’s enough to it to support the kind of long-tail engagement that expansions like Flashpoint assume it demands."

Can't disagree with this more. I liked the game but the more I think about it, the less I'm interested in a DLC that isn't a new campaign.

Yeah seriously. You could make 10 expansions off this with no problem - although you WOULD really need to upgrade from only controlling 4 units.

Off the top of my head you could do the Wolf Dragoons vs Kurita conflict, the Davion/Steiner vs Liao war, and of course the Clan invasion for plotlines. And that's without even forging your own story in the gaps.

There are literally DOZENS of 'Mechs that aren't in the game in the current time period without even looking at Clan technology.

There's so much more possibility there it's ridiculous, and that line was written by an idiot that has not the slightest idea of the greater BattleTech universe waiting to be exploited.

 

[Country_Gravy]

Bring back Jason Youngblood

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Marauder & Warhammer are the true mascots of battletech imo, so it'll be good to see them make it.

Well Warhammer is in the original box cover, so I suppose that is true.

 

[Bohr]

I haven't tried the dlc yet, but I recall some in this thread being interested in limited drop weights. Seems that some of the Flashpoint missions do feature that now.

Contains spoilers:

Spoiler

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...empt-the-odyssey.1132021/page-3#post-24912034
Ruminations on DAY 562 of the ODYSSEY (“Light” Drop Weight FLASHPOINTS)...

While the first Battle against the Mason Garrilac’s Drinking Buddy’s was the usual unlimited tonnage match, the second and last match of this short FLASHPOINT was one of the Weight Restricted Matches of 230-tons. It was woven into the storyline beautifully. The Lord Commander offered to fight a “fair” fight between Lances of equals weights (230-tons.) But he warned that if the weight restriction was not observed that his Lance would leave the battlefield without a shot fired.

Such a situational Weight Restriction is to me understandable.

Quite understandable.

And I could have indeed chosen to take Mechs past 230-tons total, it then I have not a doubt that the Lord Commander’s Lance would have been gone and no match would have even begun.


From checking my fellow BATTLETECH gamers threads on the forum, I mistakenly thought I would only be able to take four, 50-ton or less Mechs into a “Light” Drop Weight Restricted match. So I spent all too much time building four 50-tonners (2 Centurions, an A and an AL, as well as 2 Hunchback-4P’s). I burnt off maybe 12-days there at the end, not wanting to fail the FLASHPOINT because I couldn’t field the proper Lance.

But like I said, I was in error.

The Drop Limit was 230-tons, which was the combined weight of Talon’s Dragon, Valravn’s Griffin, Diva’s Centurion and Beta’s Catapult.

So I spotted Talon 5-tons and brought both my Centurions, a nearly Stock Hunchback-4P and my own Orion.

Paying homage to their their skill and proficiency to DFA, each of Mason’s Marauder’s Mechs had + and ++ Weapons and Equipment.

It was a gloriously fun battle, but as each of them fell... I must admit that it gave me a moment of pause and reflection. Especially when Talon and Valravn fell last, trying to come to one and other’s aid.

It was really FUN and interesting.


A note of caution: no Mech Salvage is possible from this last mission of the Lord Commander FLASHPOINT (I had been intent on picking up Taln’s Dragon you see ; ) ) but seeing as Mason’s Mechs and MechWarriors were destined for greater glory and DFA Events, it too was quite understandable, right and proper. :bow:

GREAT FLASHPOINT, thank you yet again Team HBS! : )

 

[Agesilaus]

I played Flashpoint and I think there is something big missing. In Battle Brothers, there is a global catastrophe that the player will have to face. In Battletech's career mode... there's nothing. Just an endless grind, with some admittedly enjoyable Flashpoint missions that give you impressive loot drops.

Career mode needs a "big evil" like we get in BB.

Also, the escort missions are absolute bullshit. When you reach the extraction point, an enemy landing craft INVARIABLY appears right next to your location and drops off 4~ mechs. Those mechs will immediately target the escort vehicles on their first turn, possibly destroying one or more before you can respond. It happens every single time, and it is the most unimaginative, lazy bullshit I have ever seen. Further, I the escort vehicles themselves have buggy AI; I was doing a Flashpoint mission and only half the convoy moved.

 

[Saduj]

When convoy trucks get stuck you have to send a mech back to them and they’ll start to follow your mech again. Usually you can wait until all the enemies are gone. Big time waster. I avoid convoy missions because they suck but I’ve been relatively lucky in that I only had one where enemies dropped right on top of my convoy after the 1st truck got to the drop point.

 

[Agesilaus]

When convoy trucks get stuck you have to send a mech back to them and they’ll start to follow your mech again. Usually you can wait until all the enemies are gone. Big time waster. I avoid convoy missions because they suck but I’ve been relatively lucky in that I only had one where enemies dropped right on top of my convoy after the 1st truck got to the drop point.

Can't avoid them when it's a Flashpoint mission, sadly.

 

[Trithne]

I played Flashpoint and I think there is something big missing. In Battle Brothers, there is a global catastrophe that the player will have to face. In Battletech's career mode... there's nothing. Just an endless grind, with some admittedly enjoyable Flashpoint missions that give you impressive loot drops.

Career mode needs a "big evil" like we get in BB.

Also, the escort missions are absolute bullshit. When you reach the extraction point, an enemy landing craft INVARIABLY appears right next to your location and drops off 4~ mechs. Those mechs will immediately target the escort vehicles on their first turn, possibly destroying one or more before you can respond. It happens every single time, and it is the most unimaginative, lazy bullshit I have ever seen. Further, I the escort vehicles themselves have buggy AI; I was doing a Flashpoint mission and only half the convoy moved.

Escort missions are just fucked in general: when you're the one escorting the convoy is a bunch of unarmoured APCs that faff around and die in one hit.

If you're attacking the convoy, it'll be a bunch of heavy tanks and artillery in addition to the lance of mechs.

HBS Battletech is one of the worst cases of "difficulty-by-outnumbering" I've seen. They've actually succeeded at making the game somewhat enjoyable at the lower weight classes now, but then you go on a mission and the procedural mission generator just goes fucking berserk.

 

[thesheeep]

 

[Cael]

HBS Battletech is one of the worst cases of "difficulty-by-outnumbering" I've seen.

The only 'mech that I know of who loves to be outnumbered is my Daisho V3 config. That is because each of its two hatchets do 40 points of damage, giving it a high chance of crippling an opponent in a single hit. Whack two 'mechs a round and melt a third with its bank of ER medium lasers (to keep heat high because TSM). There is no way in hell HBS will allow that monster in the game, though, as it would make their lazy-ass, short-range scenarios a cake walk.

 

[Bohr]

 

[lightbane]

Jesus, even the cover is gay. OFC, many of the games in the list are walking simulators and worse.

 

[thesheeep]

Seems like a rather weird list, honestly.
There are some truly great games in there, some niche stuff like Battletech (and their no1 is certainly niche, too) and some utter nonsense mixed in (like Donut County).

 

[Werdna's Revenge]

Seems like a rather weird list, honestly.
There are some truly great games in there, some niche stuff like Battletech (and their no1 is certainly niche, too) and some utter nonsense mixed in (like Donut County).

Yeah I clicked through after this comment and it's more like a list of 30 random games that came out this year in no particular order than anything.

 

[Alienman]

Is it another case of a guy throwing a dildo on a white board?

 

[Alienman]

thesheeep

 

[Bohr]

Prestigious Unity award nomination

 

[Cael]

Prestigious Unity award nomination

For something they didn't do. Those 'mechs were from MWO, which HBS used. This is like cuckdog getting a Best Art award for BG2EE.

 

[Bohr]

During the KS they mentioned that some things they'd like to do but couldn't in the initial pitch (coop was mentioned) might be addressed by a "live team" after launch if the game was successful enough. Seems that is now up and running. No mention of coop or anything like that, just the first signs of life.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-battletech-live-team.1139627/

Hi everybody! I'm the new live team producer here at Harebrained Schemes. We're aware that this issue of players with Flashpoint being unable to play in Multiplayer games against those without is troublesome for our MP community. This problem is getting worked on and it will get fixed. Unfortunately, there is a significant amount of engineering work needed to get the issue corrected. This means it will take time into the new year, both for the purposes of developing and testing the fix properly. Meanwhile, those with Flashpoint will continue to need to disable that content strictly for Multiplayer to play against non-Flashpoint players. Thank you for your patience!

HBS_DeathSheep,
#4

 

[thesheeep]

Eh... after having to restart the game for about the 5th time now because turns just wouldn't advance (a bug that persists through reloading, so you HAVE to restart), I think I'll just stop.
Before the patches, the game was downright unplayable because you couldn't speed up anything.

Now at least the walking is sped up, but... only sometimes. Sometimes they walk as slow as they always did.
Your time is also still wasted by having to wait for audio confirmations (wtf?!), animations to finish ( ), number popups to disappear, action camera zooms (yes, I disabled all of them, they still happen every now and then), ...
And then of course we have the typical Unity loading times from the alternate snail universe and the unskippable travel animations.

Having to sit through all of that numerous times because of reloading is just the cherry on top.
It isn't totally unplayable any more, but there's still way too much time wasting going on for it to be enjoyable. What a shame.

 

[Chippy]

I threw about £30 or so at HBS to kickstart this and haven't even bothered to track down my install key after the lukewarm reviews.
So is it worth the effort yet? Has anyone had their PC blow up from the overheating issue with Unity?
No dumb-ass remarks about standing the PC in water.

 

[Cael]

I threw about £30 or so at HBS to kickstart this and haven't even bothered to track down my install key after the lukewarm reviews.
So is it worth the effort yet? Has anyone had their PC blow up from the overheating issue with Unity?
No dumb-ass remarks about standing the PC in water.

There were a few such complaints early in the piece. Other than that, if you like being a cheerleader so much as to play the HBS game, I suggest you try the local sports league to see if they have a vacancy. It would be far more rewarding.

 

[Bohr]

Mitch on the 'unseen'

Spoiler

 

[ArchAngel]

I threw about £30 or so at HBS to kickstart this and haven't even bothered to track down my install key after the lukewarm reviews.
So is it worth the effort yet? Has anyone had their PC blow up from the overheating issue with Unity?
No dumb-ass remarks about standing the PC in water.

Game does not have such problems. The unity problem is long loading screens.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Mitch on the 'unseen'

Spoiler

You know, a Marauder's melee animations really should include one where the 'mech uses its dorsal gun to turkeyslap the other 'mech.