KickStarter BATTLETECH - turn-based mech combat from Harebrained Schemes

[Beowulf]

So, fellow Codexers that still pop up in this thread - is the game any good?
Seems to be gathering mixed review here. Would you recommend it, and with which mods?

 

[GarfunkeL]

No, I wouldn't but if you have to, apparently Rogue Tech improves things a lot.

 

[Beowulf]

No, I wouldn't but if you have to, apparently Rogue Tech improves things a lot.

Care to elaborate a little?
Why wouldn't you recommend it? Not enough tactical options with one lance, poor AI, formulaic missions, not enough mech customization?
Something else.

Might be worth mentioning that I've never played Battletech tabletop games, so won't really notice lore discrepancies, nor care for its faithfulness - but I care if the lore and story is coherent.

 

[underground nymph]

No, I wouldn't but if you have to, apparently Rogue Tech improves things a lot.

Care to elaborate a little?
Why wouldn't you recommend it? Not enough tactical options with one lance, poor AI, formulaic missions, not enough mech customization?
Something else.

Might be worth mentioning that I've never played Battletech tabletop games, so won't really notice lore discrepancies, nor care for its faithfulness - but I care if the lore and story is coherent.

I’d say that the main problem is the repetitiveness of missions when playing career mode. Combat tends to be tactical enough when your lance consists of low tier mechs, but becomes more straightforward when you obtain heavy mechs. AI isn’t really stupid, it’s just unrealistic consisting primarily of kamikaze pilots. The customization is quite limited in terms of making mechs really unique (though they addressed this problem in the last update adding unique features to the selected mechs).

To summarize: this game leaves a feeling that everything could and should have been better. And yet I think it’s still worth someone’s time. Buy it on sale.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

No, I wouldn't but if you have to, apparently Rogue Tech improves things a lot.

Care to elaborate a little?
Why wouldn't you recommend it? Not enough tactical options with one lance, poor AI, formulaic missions, not enough mech customization?
Something else.

Might be worth mentioning that I've never played Battletech tabletop games, so won't really notice lore discrepancies, nor care for its faithfulness - but I care if the lore and story is coherent.

Story is by far the biggest disappointment of the game. As mentioned above, the combat at its root is decent, but tonnage+repetition eventually drags it down. But the story is basically an uninteresting one sentence summary "deposed royal gets throne back from evil relative" without any twist, turn, or depth to it. You go through with it and that's that. It's basically like every other BTech vidya story ever, by which I mean it's tripe filler that's there just because a story is expected.

It's a huge letdown from the people that made Shadowrun Dragonfall and Hong Kong. They could have made a really good linear campaign focused on a story, with a premade Lance (besides PC) and support staff, and work around that. The entire thing is instead dragged down by too focus on a mind-numbingly boring procedural content mercenary simulation. You can tell every moment that the mercenary sim side was what took most of the time and resources, and it's fundamentally bound by the same thing all procedural systems are: Procedural random generation is fucking bullshit.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah the problem is that it's trying to be two different games. Plus apparently HBS coders are crap at optimisation because the game runs like dogshit. The maps are small and even with the silly restriction of using just 1 lance (4 mechs), loading times are LOOOOOOONG and everything just runs like molasses. I turned all effects and GFX stuff all the way down, minimized animations, installed on an SSD and it STILL crawled along like a flaming turd.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I personally didn't have a problem running it at good settings and speed, but the loading times were notably longer than most games. Way notably longer. Way way way longer than a small map with nothing except up to around 20 'mechs/vehicles and some turrets should take.

And yea, while it is two different games, I'd say the problem is that the game that was inherently of less value (procgen merc sim) was eating away almost all of the attention. If they'd focused on a purely single player, linear campaign like the last two Shadowrun games, we might have gotten a really good game at the very least.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

roguetech tickled my autism just right, i was willing to endure an imprecise interface, repetitiveness and serious bugs and misc issues, but what really led me away from the game was the loading times.

 

[Galdred]

roguetech tickled my autism just right, i was willing to endure an imprecise interface, repetitiveness and serious bugs and misc issues, but what really led me away from the game was the loading times.

do the latter versions of roguetech require all DLC?

 

[rashiakas]

no

 

[Urthor]

So did they make this game a lot more fun, or is it still the game that was balanced to a true Sawyer's delight after LSTMs were nerfed and big walls of medium lasers/AC20s just run at each other?

 

[Cael]

So did they make this game a lot more fun, or is it still the game that was balanced to a true Sawyer's delight after LSTMs were nerfed and big walls of medium lasers/AC20s just run at each other?

It is pretty much SRM and medium laser boats. That haven't changed as it was designed to be that way.

 

[DeepOcean]

No, I wouldn't but if you have to, apparently Rogue Tech improves things a lot.

Care to elaborate a little?
Why wouldn't you recommend it? Not enough tactical options with one lance, poor AI, formulaic missions, not enough mech customization?
Something else.

Might be worth mentioning that I've never played Battletech tabletop games, so won't really notice lore discrepancies, nor care for its faithfulness - but I care if the lore and story is coherent.

There are a few problems that come from the base design, this game is two games that were forced together but without enough depth for each. One game is a linear campaign and another is a mercenary procedurally generated campaign.The linear campaign was a failure, they used the same "let's tell some small story on the Battle Tech world" template that they used for the shadowrun games but it didn't work because this isn't a RPG game and you spend 90% of your time blowing stuff up and because they chosen some remote part of the galaxy and didn't use some key parts of the Battle Tech setting.

The writing was just run of the mill good guys vs. bad guys, I once joked that the characters names seemed like something produced by a random name generator, unfortunately not only the names, the whole story is generic as generic can get. The problem is that the linear campaign really affected the way they designed the procedurally generated campaign on a negative way, the linear campaign was designed with you controling a lance of just a few mechs fighting small encounters over and over so all procedurally generated missions are about you with a small group of mechs fighing small encounters over and over and that gets tiresome quickly as the game fails to escalate the tactical game and the procedurally generated missions lack enough parameters to keep things interesting for long.

The strategic layer of the game of you administring a lance of mercenary mechs is underwhelming with a severe lack of options and interesting strategic decisions, this isn't certainly Jagged Alliance or X-COM on space. The DLC somewhat try to improve the mercenary campaign (the mode most people actually care about) by adding more mechs, more missions, more enviroments, more guns and mainly, by adding flashpoints that are more complex missions with more hand crafted content than the usual procedurally generated missions.

They didn't fix the core problem of the game, Rogue Tech kinda does the same thing the DLC do, it adds more stuff but don't expect a complete rewrite of the base game. Maybe now with official mod support, it can improve the game further, but we will see. This game would had been awesome if it was Jagged Alliance with Battlemechs focused on a single planet and with a non-linear campaign with a more abstract plot and more tied with Battle Tech lore, the princess could give you the money based on your performance and the way you go about getting her throne back was your choice.

 

[Cael]

No, I wouldn't but if you have to, apparently Rogue Tech improves things a lot.

Care to elaborate a little?
Why wouldn't you recommend it? Not enough tactical options with one lance, poor AI, formulaic missions, not enough mech customization?
Something else.

Might be worth mentioning that I've never played Battletech tabletop games, so won't really notice lore discrepancies, nor care for its faithfulness - but I care if the lore and story is coherent.

There are a few problems that come from the base design, this game is two games that were forced together but without enough depth for each. One game is a linear campaign and another is a mercenary procedurally generated campaign.The linear campaign was a failure, they used the same "let's tell some small story on the Battle Tech world" template that they used for the shadowrun games but it didn't work because this isn't a RPG game and you spend 90% of your time blowing stuff up and because they chosen some remote part of the galaxy and didn't use some key parts of the Battle Tech setting.

The writing was just run of the mill good guys vs. bad guys, I once joked that the characters names seemed like something produced by a random name generator, unfortunately not only the names, the whole story is generic as generic can get. The problem is that the linear campaign really affected the way they designed the procedurally generated campaign on a negative way, the linear campaign was designed with you controling a lance of just a few mechs fighting small encounters over and over so all procedurally generated missions are about you with a small group of mechs fighing small encounters over and over and that gets tiresome quickly as the game fails to escalate the tactical game and the procedurally generated missions lack enough parameters to keep things interesting for long.

The strategic layer of the game of you administring a lance of mercenary mechs is underwhelming with a severe lack of options and interesting strategic decisions, this isn't certainly Jagged Alliance or X-COM on space. The DLC somewhat try to improve the mercenary campaign (the mode most people actually care about) by adding more mechs, more missions, more enviroments, more guns and mainly, by adding flashpoints that are more complex missions with more hand crafted content than the usual procedurally generated missions.

They didn't fix the core problem of the game, Rogue Tech kinda does the same thing the DLC do, it adds more stuff but don't expect a complete rewrite of the base game. Maybe now with official mod support, it can improve the game further, but we will see. This game would had been awesome if it was Jagged Alliance with Battlemechs focused on a single planet and with a non-linear campaign with a more abstract plot and more tied with Battle Tech lore, the princess could give you the money based on your performance and the way you go about getting her throne back was your choice.

The problem isn't with the mix of linear and procedural. The problem is that the procedural doesn't advance the timeline. You can hare off and do a thousand procedurals and you can come back and continue where you left off the linear. That is retarded as hell. If you want both, you need to ensure that time matters so that your choice of procedural or linear missions matter.

Guess what Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries did right over 20 years ago?

 

[Agesilaus]

BATTLETECH 3025 - COMMANDER'S EDITION V 1.8 RELEASED

https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/387?tab=posts

Compatible w/ Heavy Metal Expansion

Heaps of New Features

I really enjoyed the normal Battletech 3025 mod, it improved the mercenary campaign a lot by greatly increasing the number of mechs and introducing new difficulty settings and making minor balance changes. I moved on to other games eventually and never played the more expansive version, Battletech 3025 Commander's Edition. When Heavy Metal came out I held off playing Battletech even longer, because I knew the mod would need to be updated.

UNTIL NOW - version 1.8 has been released. It is a massive expansion from the previous Commander's Edition, which itself was apparently a significant expansion on the simpler Battletech 3025 mod.

Here are the features:

Full Inner Sphere Map
Start in 3025 to 3057
Galaxy At War
Mech Quirks
Pilot Quirks
Panic System
Argo Upgrade Improvements
Difficulty moved away from start, more to end game
Similar difficulty to Extended 3025 but with higher skill ceiling
Difficulty Levels, including 'Simulation' which is hard + more hardcore Simulation aspects/challenges
Re-balanced weapons/skills/variants
A huge list of new mechs/variants and assorted weaponry/tech

Major additions in latest version:

Start your career from 3025 until 3057
Choose the amount of new level 2 you want in your game by the year you start in.
Mech rarity per faction is calculated for the exact date when you go on a mission, as mechs roll off the production lines and are released they will change in commonality following the lore.
No Clans yet, this is entirely the Inner Sphere.
Start your game in 3025 and you will have the low tech version you were used to before.

Major rework of what technology is around
Balanced versions of new tech from Heavy Metal are around in the correct era, depending what year you start your game as. Powerful versions of weapons are Star League era versions and are suitably rare. Out of timeline weapons or items and invented stuff such as Coils are even rarer but maybe if you are lucky you may find one on a research planet.
If you are playing at a later date look out for the non Star League versions of UAC 5s, LB10Xs etc. that the major houses are slowly introducing. These will provide different build and role options for your mechs without being just straight up better.

We have the technology
All level 2 technology from the lore and tabletop is around in the correct times. Countless new mechs since the last version, ok I counted, 140+ new variants. Countless new level 2 tech weapons that are side grades from 3025 tech, with their own +/++/+++ versions to find. New tech weapons provide a different role.
Not just what Heavy Metal provided, we have Streak SRMs, Artemis IV SRMs/LRMs. AMS/MASC/ECM/BAP/CASE. XL Engines, Endo Steel, Ferro Fibrous.

This isn't a one to one translation from the Tabletop
The translation fits the HBS game in a fun adding way. Mech builds are from the tabletop, and the factions are using what they should be using but changes were made for gameplay reasons. Double Heat Sink engines provide -40 heat sinking instead of -30 so that heat it still a concept in the game for example. If you want to play in Tech level 2 periods you can find those better mechs out there, but we aren't seeing Clan level leaps in power.

Even more balanced than before
Multiple subtle changes help bring some of the outlying things in line. Subtle changes include optimal weapon range being slightly more important, support weapons are slightly less accurate to hit the god tier support weapon boats. Hard difficulty and Simulation mode has been made slightly harder. New Heavy Metal items are all reworked to fit the balance from before. You wont see a huge nerf hammer on your favourite thing unless it is from Heavy Metal.
Heavy Metal has been hit with a nerf hammer hard. The main culprits have been whacked. You will still see lots of toys introduced from the Expansion, but don't expect to be using 125 damage snub nose PPCs in this mod.
HBS fixed item quirks have been adjusted to be more subtle and to sit nicely with the Quirk system Extended already has. Some have seen no change, others have been removed such as the Marauder Command Console as the quirks from Extended already covered it's Command Mech role and had a more interesting gameplay impact.

Major work on the Inner Sphere map
Shops are distibuted with the new Heavy Metal system all over the map. This includes Major Faction shops.
Contract employers are intelligent all over the map whether you use Galaxy at War or not.
When you start you will begin down south no matter the faction you choose so the Flashpoints are easily available, but you are free to travel the entire Inner Sphere.

Here is my experience on the weekend:

Installation process was easy. I wiped the mod folder, downloaded the Btech 3025 CE file and the CAB file. Extracted the mod into the mods folder, ran the CAB install file which automatically detected the btech folder. Deleted the 8 folders as directed in the install instructions on the site. Ran modtek injector (included in the Btech 3025 CE zip file, easy to find). DONE, works perfectly. You must read the post describing how to do it - all the information is available and easy to follow, but you do actually need to read it.

I started a new career. First step is setting the difficulty, using the expanded options. I usually pick 4 pieces to recover a mech, player mechs lost if cored, random start mechs, maybe one other thing more difficult than usual. You can adjust the settings mid-game if you want. I got lumped with a pos Cicada as my medium, which sucked. Quite possibly the worst mech in the game. Mechs also have "quirks" now; nothing game breaking, but each model has certain issues or benefits. Pilot background now has an impact, and apparently pilots can specialise in a certain mech. The feats are all rebalanced/improved; there is a feat that helps mechs retain evasion pips, which is crucial for lighter mechs late game I imagine.

Started in Liao space; the entire IS map is now open. The planets can shift control and you can help with the overall war effort of a great house. A lot more impressive than the vanilla experience.

When you begin, you must pass time by 1 day so that you can select the starting era. There are 4 options, I chose 3049. This era is right when the clans first start to move into the IS. Post-3025 tech will slowly begin to trickle in, but still very rare. Clans are way up north and I haven't seen or heard anything about them yet beyond the introduction statement (I'm about 150 days in); apparently the mod does not actually feature the Clans yet so I think they just gobble up a few planets and disappear. Time does progress in game, so if you start in 3025 you will eventually reach the later time periods with their related advancements.

In battle, several great new features become immediately obvious. First, pilots undergo psychological stress. Enemy pilots will eventually eject if you really focus fire and tear their mech to pieces. The targeting line also changes colour depending on the angle (front, side rear) of the shot. There appears to be some new mission types, presumably from Heavy Metal or some official patch - you can escort some rookies on their first mission. The game gives you 3 green mechs and pilots, so you only need to provide one mech and pilot of your own, great for early game if your mechs are broken down but you need money.

Right now my only medium mech is a hunchback (sold the cicada). I roll around with an AC20 hunchie and a swarm of javs/firestarters. I have an AC urbie in reserve. My hatred for enemy firestarters remains in full effect. At the time I quit, I just recovered a panther and equipped it with 1 ppc, 1 m laser, 1 inferno SRM. I've never used an inferno SRM in this game so I'm looking forward to it. I have seen and recovered AMS systems, and I saw a mortar on sale for some ridiculous price, but otherwise nothing too crazy.

Post battle, pilots become fatigued for 5 days. You can send them in back to back missions if you wish, but apparently there's some sort of penalty. It means that you will regularly rotate pilots; I now have 8 mechwarriors on the payroll and rotate them. I drop 4 pilots a mission, and then after 2 missions I take a break to recuperate. I definitely want to upgrade the mechwarrior bays to get more.

So far so good. The starmap now encompasses the entire IS and there are active wars that can result in planets changing hands and increased payments if you get involved. Planets (at least in warzones) appear to have more open missions than usual, the variety is nice. Flashpoints are still available. A tonne of new mechs and variants, and a tonne of new tech that will slowly trickle in. All new pilot mechanics that have a real impact on how battle plays out. Btech 3025 was already good, but this new version of Commander's Edition is a massive expansion.

 

[Agesilaus]

The latest steam update breaks the mod if you've already installed it. To fix the issue, just run the modtek injector file like you did when you first installed the mod.

I am now running the galaxy with my Phoenix Hawks. I run through the cover and the jump jet behind the enemy and blast their rear armour. Sadly the hawk doesn't carry much firepower, but so far it's getting results.

 

[Infinitron]

Still releasing unstreamed panels from PDXCON:

A panel discussion about how art, design, and engineering at Harebrained Schemes collaborated to bring epic urban environments to life in BATTLETECH: Urban Warfare.

 

[lightbane]

Here is my experience on the weekend:

Does this mod let you run more than one Lance, or are you still stuck with 4 mobile walls of lasers?

 

[Agesilaus]

Here is my experience on the weekend:

Does this mod let you run more than one Lance, or are you still stuck with 4 mobile walls of lasers?

1 lance.

I haven't played any mods that let you have multiple lances, so I don't know what that experience is like. I can tell you that I don't walk around with 4 mobile walls of lasers, though.

 

[DeepOcean]

Here is my experience on the weekend:

Does this mod let you run more than one Lance, or are you still stuck with 4 mobile walls of lasers?

You can field 8 mechs on RogueTech after a recent patch, I'm waiting after the mod matures some more and support all DLC before I try again, don't expect perfect balance for this change, there is a ton of granular difficulty options on roguetech, if you mess with them and make the game harder maybe that compensate for the extra mechs.

 

[Inehresa]

So I've played Battletech for the first time yesterday and these are my first impressions:

• Game doesn't state what are the differences between damage types
• UI is too minimalistic in info department - had to figure out on my own what those three bars represent
• Either I haven't noticed it yet or it doesn't exist but I can't find anywhere table which summarizes current state of my mech - I'd like to know which parts are damaged, which are on the verge of malfunctioning etc, for know I have to memorize everything (or make use of indirect info)
• I'm able to deal with the concept of tall bipedal weapon platforms being viable military equipment, however I don't get it why damage to mechanical systems of mechs haven't been implemented
• Similarly - idk why there aren't any DOT effects like corrosive damage, melting damage, strain damage caused by deformed mech's geometry
• Cybernetic warfare is absent too

So far it's been fun, mostly because idea of merc startup is so ridicolous and dystopian that it turns out cool.
Haven't played tutorial and pnp, so I guess my complaints may be just ingorant.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

worst troll ever.

 

[Galdred]

worst troll ever.

It can be fun in the beginning! The lack of variety, or reason not to bring the same loadout to every mission is what kills it in the medium term.

 

[Inehresa]

Few hours ago I wasn't sure what were you all about MMH but here I come, forever changed, a prodigal son. BT is pure shit, wish I listened to people, wouldn't waste those few hours.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

the matter is entirely different. the game sucks, yet you still remain retarded or, best case scenario, the worst troll ever.