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Miguelsan wrote: WYSIWYG coming to a Btech game near you soon (TM)
M.
There's almost thirty variants of just the Marauder alone. BattleTech will never be WYSIWYG beyond requiring that you use a Marauder mini for a Marauder
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
Lorcan Nagle wrote:-A plastic Urbanmech IIc is possible, never say never.
-The larger support vehicles are the least likely things to see a plastic release
-Plastic Omega is possible depending on if they revisit the Jihad more and how well the Celestials do.
-Jihad mechs that Ray would like the see the most - Lightray and Legacy (He said the one on the cover of TRO:3058, but it's clear what he meant)
-when asked about an official UrbieLAM recordsheet as it's been reverse-engineered from the Alpha Strike cards? "We'll see"
-Where is Arthur Steiner-Davion? In the Deep Periphery with the other Manei Domini
-Plastic Grand Crusader? Not any time oon
-More Aerospace minis? Depends on a number of factors but Ray would like that
-Celestial LAMs are lower on the list of the classic LAMs
-Plastic Periphery mechs like the Pentheselia? Not soon but they'd like to do them
-They're hoping to repackage the Alpha Strike space rules, possibly as a PDF
-Next Kickstarter has no solid plans, maybe not minis-based like the last two but nothing is set in stone
-They don't have a place in the near future to publish art of the Rhino
-They still haven't nailed down who did Grey Monday
-Ray thinks plastic OmniMechs with swappable parts would be very cool
-When asked about getting full TO&Es, Ray said the biggest we'll get in the future are the company/battalion sized units in Spotlight On...
-Ray thinks the Maelstrom is on the list for a rework
-The Imp has come close to getting redone but was cut twice
-The Solaris Mechs are nowhere on the list at the moment but they'd like to do them. Same with IndustrialMechs
-The Matador isn't on the list to redo soon
-Ray thinks the Grey Death Standard Battle Armour might be on the list though
-Favourite product for 2024? Unreleased is Universe, released is RecGuide ilClan volume 2.
-Campaigns for AtoW/Destiny? Not soon but something's in the works
-Will there be a system that bridges BattleTech and Alpha Strike Like Death From Above has made? "Can't say at this time really... No"
-Plastic minis of Mad Cat Family? "We're working on it"
-Plastic Atlas III? Not in the next couple of years
-Alpha Strike Commander's Edition? Should be this year.
-Plans to update old mapsheets? Yes, but not a straight reissue of the old map packs. They're being redone in the map packs little by little, ususally with the same name but not always.
-Star League Command Lance is held up in shipping
-The limitations on making modular OmniMech minis is more production than artistic. The swappable weapons parts in some of the Kickstarter sets are an experiment in this
-Plastic Jupiter? Ray says he doesn't think so, but I'm sure it's in one of the planned sets
-Plastic Blood Spirit? Randall really wants it but it's low priority.
-Will we see a Mech-scale DropShip? Yes
-The MechCommander's handbook will be a callback to the old Merc's handbook, you can create a unit (of any time) and run a narrative campaign with the same core system and different added flavour, like contracts generating missions in the merc's book.
-Selling the Visigoth outside of the Kickstarter is likely.
-ProtoMechs are largely relegated to the late Clan Invasion - Jihad era
-The MW5/MWO/HBSBT original Mechs are unlikely to appear in the tabletop
-Would there ever be a forcepack with the contents selected by vote? Internet polls and votes rarely reflect sales so if they did that it would be based on a pre-order system.
-Campaign books for the ilClan era are planned
-The Mechcommander's handbook will be era-agnostic with optional era-based info.
-Plastic Rakshasa? Ray would like to see it but not any time soon.
-Any chance for more solaris stuff? Yeah
-Do the Wolf's Dragoons have a Kerensky Honorname? No
-Updated Solaris box? Not any time in the future. They have lots of plans, lots of brainstorming but they're not just going to redo the old box/revamp the old duelling rules.
-Any chance of a non-forcepack pilot card deck? It's possible, they've talked about it.
-RPG-scale minis or Heroforge options? It's been discussed but they need to figure out how they make it happen
-the periphery factions will be seen and do more, but the focus will remain on the Inner Sphere
-No more Battleforce planned but they do try and support it where they can.
-House Arano is not a rights nightmare, they're in the universe book.
-More GDL novels? Probably
-Any app updates? Ray has no information
-Biggest channel for Ray's job? Not enough hours in the day.
-Ray's pie in the shy product? Sooner or later they all get made. The next thing Ray would love to see but is nowhere near starting is AeroTech
-Official Misisons and codified organised play is being worked on.
-We will see more of the Scorpion Empire, but they are a Deep Periphery state
-the RecGuides served a specific purpose, any may return but likely they'll use a new format for future unit releases.
-Weather/Planetary condition decks? Would be neat, but Ray doubts there would be much call for it.
-3D printed buildings/terrain? Not much movement, they're looking for someone to partner with that would produce and ship and sell them. They do want to make use of all the renders they're generating.
-What's Ray proud of adding or influencing in BattleTech? He has tried to not insert anything of his into the IP, he sees himself as a custodian. More broadly he's really proud of keeping the storyline moving and shepherding people into the new era.
-Interstellar Players 4 is planned
-Where would Ray place himself in the universe and do? He'd work in production or gaming, on one of the Golden Five in a safe timeframe like the late succession wars.
-Plans for the New Jaguars? Yes
-Is there a job at CGL Ray would like to create? Yeah, but more in production or support capacities rather than creative.
-There is movement in the canon character database but nothing that can be discussed yet?
-any plans for an artbook? Yes
-Target has been happy with the Essentials box.
-New Bounty Hunter? Soon.
-New Black Marauder? Lance has three or four more stories in the cycle, they're being worked on
-Will Kitsune Kurita and Victor's other kids show up in ilClan? It's Possible.
-Can people adjust their canon characters? When a call goes out. Aaron said in chat to not message the campaign about it.
-Will there be plastic updates of the other Dragoons Mechs? "Not specifically"
-Will we find out the fate of the Aurigan Reach? Yes, they might be mentioned in ilKhan's Eyes Only
-Minnesota Tribe Revival? No. Forcebox? No.
-Can the RecGuide PDF product listings get an update to list their contents? Probably not on the store, Ray recommends the Sarna listings.
-Shattered Fortress reprint? Probably not, it's high on the PoD list though.
-any possiblity of a Lindon's Battalion return? No. It was discussed but they were wiped out over Mars
-What would Ray show someone in the Universe book to wow a new player? Depends on the person, show them the thing that reflects what they like
-Will there be more World-wide events? They hope so.
-Will Record Sheets be added to the MUL? There are plans, but no timeline.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2024/03/25 22:55:23
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
Miguelsan wrote: WYSIWYG coming to a Btech game near you soon (TM)
M.
There's almost thirty variants of just the Marauder alone. BattleTech will never be WYSIWYG beyond requiring that you use a Marauder mini for a Marauder
Agreed. Worst comes to worst, BattleTech started with cardboard stands, you can always print a picture of your variant and go REALLY old school BT.
Miguelsan wrote: WYSIWYG coming to a Btech game near you soon (TM)
M.
There's almost thirty variants of just the Marauder alone. BattleTech will never be WYSIWYG beyond requiring that you use a Marauder mini for a Marauder
Just like you can sub in any ol' space marine for a similar one (primaris Mk X for any other Mk X) but with a different loadout and unit type in official 40k events, right? I don't think the number of variants will stop a greedy company from demanding it; only the fanbase can immediately, forcefully, and unanimously right after they announce it.
We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
Miguelsan wrote: WYSIWYG coming to a Btech game near you soon (TM)
M.
There's almost thirty variants of just the Marauder alone. BattleTech will never be WYSIWYG beyond requiring that you use a Marauder mini for a Marauder
Just like you can sub in any ol' space marine for a similar one (primaris Mk X for any other Mk X) but with a different loadout and unit type in official 40k events, right? I don't think the number of variants will stop a greedy company from demanding it; only the fanbase can immediately, forcefully, and unanimously right after they announce it.
Before Catalyst can even THINK about demanding it, they'd have to produce a mini for each and every one of those 30 Marauder variants. And then 30 more Warhammer variants. Etc. etc. etc; ad infinitum, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
Attempting to do so would bankrupt them, as there's no where NEAR enough demand for that many specific variants to make that many sculpts profitable.
lol, have we all become so infected with the corrupting influence of the Chaos Gods... err, Games Workshop, that we forgot how silly an idea a company demanding you play your game a certain way is in the first place? That only works with Warhammer players, and I suppose 5e players if we're including all tabletop gaming.
Otherwise nobody else cares. (Well I guess there were some rumors of X-WIng and Armada players actually buying ship packs just to get mini-cards cards they could print out at home for almost free, but those just had to be tall tales, right? Nobody could be that gullible.)
frankelee wrote: Otherwise nobody else cares. (Well I guess there were some rumors of X-WIng and Armada players actually buying ship packs just to get mini-cards cards they could print out at home for almost free, but those just had to be tall tales, right? Nobody could be that gullible.)
Yeah, who would do that for a game, right? Definitely not me... ever again. Though in my case, I was happy to have a 2nd copy of every ship from the OT era.
We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
frankelee wrote: Otherwise nobody else cares. (Well I guess there were some rumors of X-WIng and Armada players actually buying ship packs just to get mini-cards cards they could print out at home for almost free, but those just had to be tall tales, right? Nobody could be that gullible.)
Yeah, who would do that for a game, right? Definitely not me... ever again. Though in my case, I was happy to have a 2nd copy of every ship from the OT era.
I have long suspected that a big part of that sales strategy was forcing players to buy more models they wanted to buy. At that point, what choice did you have, you needed that tiny card.
But Catalyst will have to think up something cleverer than that, it's been done.
I was half facetious in my original comment.
I'm not saying that it's sane, or that Catalyst wants it to happen but on the other hand stupid mistakes are made all the time, especially if the owners of the IP catch wind of what GW can get away with it. After all, DnD current troubles started when the suits on top got replaced by ex-Microsoft people that think that forcing players to get a sub to play DnD is a great idea.
M.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/24 07:07:22
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
warboss wrote: Just like you can sub in any ol' space marine for a similar one (primaris Mk X for any other Mk X) but with a different loadout and unit type in official 40k events, right? I don't think the number of variants will stop a greedy company from demanding it; only the fanbase can immediately, forcefully, and unanimously right after they announce it.
Lookimg at the Master Unit List (i.e., the MUL) there are 4,040 'Mech variants, 2,071 Combat Vehicle variants and 331 Aerospace Fighter variants. That's 6,442 units that would need to be divided up into ForcePacks. This would add somewhere around a thousand SKUs to keep track of and reorder (if they sell and don't sit in the warehouse and collect dust). I don't believe Catalyst is greedy, but they fully realize that making every 'Mech, Combat Vehicle and Aerospace Fighter would be a good way of killing their company. Additionally, Topps has been hands-off and only stepping in on social matters which don't belong in this thread.
AdeptiCon Livestream (3/24)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/24 16:08:33
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
Flip side is that Catalyst needs to keep the plastic flowing and the engine turning, so it's either they retire minis and reissue them with updated sculpts ala GW over time or they keep producing variants and new designs
CoALabaer wrote: Wargamers hate two things: the state of the game and change.
chaos0xomega wrote: Flip side is that Catalyst needs to keep the plastic flowing and the engine turning, so it's either they retire minis and reissue them with updated sculpts ala GW over time or they keep producing variants and new designs
While that's not only true, but necessary for them to stay in business, it's not quite the same thing. Taking the Marauder for example, the 3025 variants just replaced PPCs and/or the AC/5 with LLs in various configurations. With a trivial amount of effort one could convert models of a 3R, 3D, 3M, and 3L interchangably. Most of the tech upgrades don't change the appearance overmuch either - there's little visual difference between a PPC, ER-PPC, or LPL; or between a ML and a MPL, ER-ML or other ML variant.
I'll grant you SOME variants do have a pretty hefty profile change - for example the Catapult C1 vs. the K1, or the Swayback Hunchback variants. But by and large Catalyst can release 'new' variants that are close enough to the base model that no one cares WHAT variant you use it as pretty much indefinitely.
All mini games except Warhammers have a life cycle, this current iteration of Battletech will too. Gimmicks won't extend that life cycle. I think if Catalyst wanted to provide players a way to have most of the variants they should create a Hero Forge style website. Then they could still sell minis and STLs to hardcore fans and make ongoing income, even as the force pack sales dry up.
Lorcan Nagle wrote:-What mech would you like to see more love in the fiction: Loren: SAGGITAIRE! Ray: UrbanMech (somewhat deadpan), Brent: Saggitaire, Randall: Celestials/the Jihad in general
-Why is Ray wearing a Kurita cap? Did he lose a bet? It's secret code
-Loren's favourite CGL game? The Duke
-Someone asked about getting a PoD of Trian under Fire, the Battlecorps serial Loren wrote that roughly adapts MechWarrior 3. There was some confusion originally, he'll have to check with John if it's thick enough to do a physical edition
-Faction flags? They've looked into them, materials have been considered
-Will Loren be at Essen? Unsure, he's planning to do one of the international shows, probably Essen or PAX Asutralia.
-Why are a lot of items and clothes sized out of stock? Initial orders tend to be guesswork as to what to stock, leading to sell-outs at different rates. Randall also said the Leviathans kickstarter sucked a lot of energy that would be used to fix these issues, I assume he meant mercenaries. Either way a big T-shirt order is on the way.
-Hour of the Wolf Audiobook ETA? That's a John question
-What are you most looking forward to do? Randall: All the travelling and meeting fans this year
-Will we ever go back to the old partial cover rules? No
-Are the Battlefield Support rules in the Mercs box? Yes
-Will there be more high quality prints? Brent hopes so, hopefully they ones they had at Kerenskykon and Adepticon proved popular enough.
-Does CGL have any con traditions? Try to not let Randall hurt himself too badly, he pulled out a little patch that read CAUTION: I CAUSE SECURITY BRIEFS
-When will the UrbieLAM find its way to the webstore? 2-3 months
-Will there be more Alien Worlds maps? Yes
-How heavy is the Precentor Martial Universe box, for beating the lore into people? It's very heavy, but Ray prefers you read it to them
-When will the Star League forcepack be in the webstore? About a month
-Will the high-end prints be on the webstore? No plans as yet, they're concerned about damage during shipping.
-Will they do BattleTech 3D terrain? They'd love to, whether they do it themselves or license it is to be detremined, they were having meetings the next day to figure it out. Randall's positive it'll happen.
-Mad Cat MK II and III when? They think the Mad Cat Mk II is still in but the III got cut very late in the decision process.
-Why are products like mugs allowed to sell out before the big kappas get their freebies? It's a side-effect of their unexpected popularity, in some cases they're not hitting the warehouse at all on top of ensuring the warehouse can ship them out safely.
-Ideas for new BFMs? There's a volcanic map pack coming, Randall really hopes it'll be one. There's a snow/arctic map planned too
-How would a cartoon/tv show/movie effect CGL? Only in a good way
-Would you do STLs for printing? Some of the terrain discussions they were going to have were around STLs
-Will some of the new maps be refurbished versions of old ones? Yes, the maps in the Mercs box and the Savannah map pack are new art and redesigns of old maps like river/delta and large lake to make them more playable.
-Favourite moment of Adepticon? Ray: Talking to everybody, Brent: When Mike Stackpole and Bryan Young convinced Big Red to betray Brent in their game on-stream. Randall: The size of the con, like he managed to get over to the historical games section which has to be in another hotel, and a bunch of them were BattleTech fans who came over to get patches. Loren: Seeing old friends and the energy and chaos, it helped especially with his recent tragedy.
-They showed Loren the shirtless Alaric pic Big Red commissioned. Loren laughed and asked "why?"
-Any movement on PoD? It's a lot of work to prepare old books for PoD, they're hoping to do a video or blogpost to show the process they went through for the Shadowrun 1st edition reprint which would illustrate it.
-Someone asked about getting the MechWarrior's guide to Solaris VII PDF on the webstore? It's in the queue somewhere.
-Any movement on the promised TRO: VA PoD? Might still happen, it's stalled in editing
-Any chance of an update Thorn? They've been talking about doing another ComStar pack to finish off the 2750 mechs.
-any updates on the last bits from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter like the beard-off? They haven't been forgotten about (and then the conversation drifted away)
-How is the cookbook coming? It's on a ship right now.
-Everyone was asked to name a mech to make a forcepack tomorrow? Loren: Solitaire, Ray: Albatross, Brent: Mad Cat Mk. II, Randall: most of what he wanted has made it back in, he said the Scarabus was the most recent one and they got that into a pack.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/25 22:55:01
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
From Mike Ciaravella and John Helfers' Lunchtime secrets:
-John reiterated that they are launching a Jihad-era fiction line. They're talking with Herb about being a consultant for the line
-What happened to the Kell bloodline when the Exiles rejoined the Wolves? That answer will remain a mystery a while longer
-Mike talked a bit about Trial of Birthright. Picks up minutes after the death of Devlin Stone, what has been created and destroyed on Terra and what will come from this. They finished an editing pass the night before. It's pencilled in for a July release
-Internal discussions are ongoing around the unfinished Case White novel Victor Milán was working on.
-Why did nobody make a trueborn child of Joshua Wolf and Natasha Kerensky? Good question, they might give an explanation somewhere down the line.
-What's going to happen to the story after ilKhan's Eyes Only? Still in small chunks? More a Ray question but they're working to 3-5 year plans.
-How do you balance filling in holes with moving forward? It depends on the plot, where it's centred and what they're focuing on. They want to leave some loose threads for players to fill in themselves too.
-Will the highlanders take employment with Liao again? Discussing the Highlanders' next steps is a current thing, they'll reveal it in the fiction.
-There have been internal hiccups with audiobook production, but there will be more on the way
-CGL have been working with Pirhana Games on MW5's story.
-Will there be more fiction featuring McCarron's Armoured Cavalry? Yes
-How does Gray Noton make a standard Rifleman do the things he does? John says he's that good, Mike insists he had advanced tech.
-They've discussed Jim Long writing new fiction, possibly featuring the Black Thorns
-Will there be a Solaris-centred Shrapnel issue? Yes, 17
-Any movement on reissuing Star Lord, Far Country and the other missing novels? Not presently, they go back to the rights holders on occasion to see if they've changed their mind
-Will Shadows of Faith be completed? That's a Loren question.
-Will other BattleCorps fiction be reprinted? They'd love to but there are capacity issues with Phil running Shrapnel and John running the novel line.
-Can we canonise the UrbieLAM? John said it was a Ray question. Ray immediately posted "No" in chat.
-I had suggested a Legacy II featuring a Warship earlier in the con, they liked the idea and discussion on the steam suggested LCS Invincible which went down well.
-Will there be a timelost Jumpship story again like Living Legends? No plans, maybe a good idea for Shrapnel? Ray popped up in chat to say there is an upcoming story featuring a misjump.
-Is Pope Leo getting fiction? No.
-Are there going to be a lot of deep-cut characters in Legends II? Yes, it's a good mix of new, old, and surprises. John hasn't taken a close look at it but Mike wrote some of the profiles, he says there are definitely some deep cuts.
-CGL has managed to get scans of some of the old comics, they are working on reissuing them. (John didn't go into detail on whether it was Malibu, Blackthorne, Spider and Wolf or what)
-How do authors come up with new Camospecs? Do they visualise or write something and let an artist interpret it? Usually CamoSpecs is ahead of them for unit colours as they work with the game production side. If they need to create a new unit, they sometimes bring them to CamoSpecs but it's usually best or easiest to come up with some colour ideas and let them do their thing.
-Any plans to give more of a spotlight on Lyran leaders? That has come up recently in discussion. Yes, but you might not like what happens.
-Will the Lyrans become a worthy superpower? They do need saving and desperate times call for desperate measures.
-What's the next step on the fiction journey? That's being mapped out now. In the chat Ray said they'll be in the ilClan era for a long time but there are lots of interesting stories in the works. They're in "Phase 1" now with plans out to "Phase 4"
-Raven Alliance novel? Mike Ciaravella is working on one.
-Will they fill in the pre-3025 era? Little by little, two pre-3025 German novels are in the process of translation and will go through fact-check to see if they can be considered canon
-Will there be a sequel to Damocles Sanction? Maybe, Mike's plate is very full right now
-Any intelligence units/agents as protagonists in upcoming fiction? Yes, particularly Voidbreaker
-When will Honour and Glory be wrapped up? Soon, Jason Hansa's last piece is in editing, it might be split in two.
-As a new hopeful contributor, what should you do? Established characters or find a corner? John says find a corner and develop it, the bigger elements are very complicated and harder to get a handle on.
-What is Jason Schemetzer's next project? They're working on that now, John would like it to be another Dragoons ilClan era book.
-is the Republic really gone, or will a remnant form? Trial of Brithright will deal with this to some degree.
-Mike's favourite eras are Jihad and Dark Age.
From Talon's interview with Loren Coleman:
-Asked about the decision to include a pre-painted mini in the star league forcepacks: Loren really wanted to do it while Randall was reticent around whether it'd improve sales, which is the reversal of their usual dynamic. Loren sold him over in part by suggesting they theme the packs around the Star League.
-Shadows of Faith crashed after 10-12 chapters and Loren only kinda realised what went wrong recently.
-Den of Wolves is about 20,000 words from being done, 10K each from Loren and Mike Stackpole. Loren's writing was derailed by his family tragedy of course, but they're hoping to get it finished soon. The book is going to be more Jamie, Joshua and Natasha meeting and teaming up and will end around the decision to form the Dragoons. They're hoping to do a sequel about the formation of the unit and then if they decide to make a third novel it'd be the arrival in the Inner Sphere and their first contract.
-Will they do another kickstarter? Probably. What will be the theme? Nobody knows. It'll probably be era-agnostic but it will probably have fiction elements, of course.
-Have they considered making BattleTech model kits? Yes, and they "might have something going on for that"
-Will ComStar return? Never say never
-Will there be more Destiny support? If they have the right project. It did OK, but there's no great drive to do more with it.
-The Star League Forcepacks pre-empted the FedSuns and Kurita ones, partially because Loren really wanted to do the pre-paint but didn't want anyone to think one of the factions was being shown preference.
-Any chance of other LAM packs? They joked about Ray saying on-stream that they needed more LAMs (but probably no)
-Why are Savannah Masters two to a base? Because they're small!
-Any chance of Infantry? Probably not in plastic in true scale, but maybe if they find a good way to do it.
-Updates on visiting PAX Australia? Unofficially they've been given a booth but they don't have confirmation yet. As soon as they know they'll be telling us.
From John's Interview with Michael Ciaravella:
-John is intending to reissue the Capellan Solution books in a single volume
-They talk about about how the ilClan/Capellan story had to be split up because the scope was so big, and the Cappellan side was given to Tom Leveen. Mike's 40,000 words over the limit on his current draft for Trial of Brithright.
-hardest things for John to edit? The spine novels, there's so many moving parts, so many references, timeframes... it's a lot to keep straight.
-Will we see more of Zeta Battalion? John hopes so
From the graphic novel roundtable:
-Mike Stackpole and Bryan Young will be writing the story, Eldon Cowgur will be artist.
-They're writing Full Script (which is where the writer gives a description of the page, number of panels and disposition on page, then what's in each panel and dialogue), this has been the standard comics script style since the 2000s
-Ray is going to work to ensure that the comics fit the tone and fit into the story in the universe
-There will be some established comics writers contributing to volume 1, but contracts have yet to be signed
-the stories will be mercenary themed
-volume 1 will be more of an anthology, 2-3 will be a single ongoing story.
-Each volume will be 88 pages long, expect them to come out over a span of years, not a monthly format
-Era is ilClan
-When asked about comics or creators that would have a similar vibe to the BattleTech comics, Bryan talked about Walt Simonson's adaptation of Alien and Jeff Smith's Bone in terms of economy of storytelling and techniques. Everyone agreed that the tone should be BattleTech as opposed to feeling like another SF comic. Stackpole explicitly talked about how if there's a multi-page battle then damage should accumulate over time and performance should drop off and so on.
-Why not adapt the Warrior Trilogy? John would be open to serialising comic adaptations of the big comics. Stackpole pointed out that the pacing of comics is very different to prose, citing how you can get inside a character's skull, but in a comic that has to be expressed in body language. You can have a page detailing a character's internal conflict before answering a question but in a comic that would be a couple of panels. Bryan brought up how the scale of storytelling is different, there's a lot more material in a novel than in a movie or comic. If you're adapting a novel to a comic or movie you have to cut stuff. He also cited screenwriter Graham Greene who was well-known for doing adaptations and apparently only had a good time when he was adapting a short story.
-will the character be wearing coolant vests and briefs or coolant suits? Depends on the story and character, it'll be used as a visual cue for the characters.
-Release format (Full retail or digital+PoD) has not been determined. Kickstarter backers will get digital for sure, John would love to go full retail.
-Will there be variant covers? maybe
-Will PPCs be lighting bolts or balls of energy? Byran said they come in a glass, it's grain alcohol cut with something. More seriously it'll probably be an energy beam like the cover of Shrapnel 15
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
Here's the pics from the latest Kickstarter update:
We'd also like to thank everyone who came by and said hey at Adepticon! Here are a few photos we would like to share with you:
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2024/03/26 00:48:00
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
Will the Highlanders will take employment with the CC again?
Who asked this, and why the CC would hire a bunch betrayers that backstab their employers? (CC in 3028, and FC in 3057, and let's not talk about the Jihad)
M.
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
2024/03/26 23:45:33
Subject: Re:BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
Personally as a new(ish) Battletech player I am perfectly fine with the lack of WYSIWYG.
The relaxed nature is particularly liberating from a long-time 40K player. It gives every model miles more of use. Instead of a favorite model that I only ever bring out when I want to field that particular variant, I can use that favorite model as a bunch of different variants.
Not that that stops me from some recreational WYSIWYG, which is what I use 3D prints for.
For instance, I have a friend who has a set of files for the Shadow Hawk that is done in the style of the old Dougram cartoon (with the LRM-5 as a round shoulder mount), but with all the individual variants modelled literally WYSIWYG. Right now I am painting a Shadow Hawk 2K, with a PPC on the shoulder instead an autocannon, and another Dougram-style that is the Royal 2HB version with a laser on each arm, and an extra SRM 2 on the center of the chest.
"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."
2024/03/27 15:28:05
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
Stormonu wrote: If that Mad Cat is a prepaint, I'll take 3 please.
No. It's not a prepaint. It's this...
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2024/03/29 02:05:30
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
I just got a heads up that international backers got hit with a nasty increase in shipping prices. Supposedly someone got a 100$ shipping charge at batallion level.
I haven't received any emails yet, but this is concerning. Anybody got their email with the shipping charges?
M.
Edit: KS comments are going crazy with people posting the shipping charges.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/29 02:07:47
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
2024/03/29 03:00:50
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
I didn't get an email specifically about shipping, but I can view a shipping total by clicking through the link in the "Last Call to Update Your Shipping Address" email that arrived in the last day or two. I think that's what some (maybe all) of the distressed people are looking at.
My projected total is certainly higher than anticipated, at $68 on a relatively modest Battalion-level pledge ($275). It's unclear if the shipping total is listed in CAD or USD (but either way it's higher than the ~50 CAD or so I was expecting). It seems some of the EU pledgers have astronomically higher shipping projections.
Pretty disappointing if it stands. Being patient and ordering from retailers would've probably been less expensive in the end. There's already been a lot of back-and-forth between the simps and the haters on the topic of "this kickstarter is just a preorder" but I think that another layer of ugliness will be added to that conversation if the KS shipping fees ultimately dwarf those people would have paid to get stuff from domestic retailers, on top of the actual product prices being interchangeable.
2024/03/29 03:29:31
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
No. QML uses the ports of Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
Catalyst mentioned on their discord that they’re looking into the shipping prices to make sure that they are correct, but with this being Easter weekend they’re not expecting any news until Tuesday at the earliest.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/03/29 04:13:59
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
2024/03/29 03:59:01
Subject: BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - GEARING UP || SHIPPING FEES AND ADDRESS CHANGES (UPDATE #81)
I did the same than you, and got a provisional 78$ to Japan. Higher than expected but not bad unless the Japanese goverment hits me with extra tariffs.
M.
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
