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Paradox has bought out Harebrained Schemes. The current devs still have creative freedom, or so it has been promised.

One of the devs was accused of sexual harassment, and copped to all the charges.

I don't know if that will have any affect on the game, but thought it was relevant.

https://www.pcgamer.com/battletech-developer-resigns-following-multiple-accusations-of-sexual-harassment/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

According to that (which is the article linked through the steam news page for the game) it sounds like he's been fired already. Hopefully this lets the blowback for this land on him rather than on the company - as it would be sad to see the company torn apart online for the misconduct of a single employee who no longer works for them.

That he's thrown his arms up and admitted to it (and states he's been seeking professional help) it sounds like at least a positive resolution (or aim toward at least) on that side of the coin as well.

 Overread wrote:
https://www.pcgamer.com/battletech-developer-resigns-following-multiple-accusations-of-sexual-harassment/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

According to that (which is the article linked through the steam news page for the game) it sounds like he's been fired already. Hopefully this lets the blowback for this land on him rather than on the company - as it would be sad to see the company torn apart online for the misconduct of a single employee who no longer works for them.

That he's thrown his arms up and admitted to it (and states he's been seeking professional help) it sounds like at least a positive resolution (or aim toward at least) on that side of the coin as well.

Sounds like he may have turned himself in as part of counseling he's enrolled in. That's got to be a hell of a work conversation. "So I've been seeing a psychiatrist about my sexual aggressiveness and have decided to make a public announcement..."

I'm not certain whether to applaud his honesty or hate his past transgressions. A good reminder that the people behind my favorite product are just as complicated as I am.

Why not both? 'Yep, I totally did that" doesn't make the past actions OK.

Agreement to Settle

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iHCyjCHuMfYE2c2jGmIBSFgA60OjwG0/view


Which most likely means the settlement will be unreleased and HG will still keep the noose around the IP.

Personally, I would take them to the wall and force them to lose everything they claim to own.

That doesn't sound good.

 TalonZahn wrote:
Agreement to Settle

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iHCyjCHuMfYE2c2jGmIBSFgA60OjwG0/view


Which most likely means the settlement will be unreleased and HG will still keep the noose around the IP.

Personally, I would take them to the wall and force them to lose everything they claim to own.

Thats not an agreement to settle, Its an agreement to talk about a settlement and postpone any court deadlines until an agreement in reached, if the agreement is not reached then they carry on where they left off.

 Overread wrote:
https://www.pcgamer.com/battletech-developer-resigns-following-multiple-accusations-of-sexual-harassment/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

According to that (which is the article linked through the steam news page for the game) it sounds like he's been fired already. Hopefully this lets the blowback for this land on him rather than on the company - as it would be sad to see the company torn apart online for the misconduct of a single employee who no longer works for them.

That he's thrown his arms up and admitted to it (and states he's been seeking professional help) it sounds like at least a positive resolution (or aim toward at least) on that side of the coin as well.

He is owning it, which is wise, he is saying 'its all true' which is not as he is open to spiteful embellishment. A lot of what he has admitted doing is very minor, some more serious but most misdemeanours at most. 'Inappropriate comments' are very minor, and wont get much compo for the victim, it might be tempting to overegg the claims for a payout.

At least he appears to be a man with a problem who is genuinely contrite about it. Thing is, that alone wont stop him re-offending if he has a 'problem'..

Anyway back to Battletech....

I guess I misread the part that says " they have agreed to a settlement in principle" and need time to make a written document.

They just want to write it out. Only IF they can't agree to the written language, then it would go on as before.

That pretty much means they've reached a settlement to me.

Although I'm not a Lawyer.

 TalonZahn wrote:
Agreement to Settle

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iHCyjCHuMfYE2c2jGmIBSFgA60OjwG0/view


Which most likely means the settlement will be unreleased and HG will still keep the noose around the IP.

Personally, I would take them to the wall and force them to lose everything they claim to own.

This is bad news methinks.

Sarna sticky linked an article from a copyright lawyer that explained that the motion to dismiss with prejudice that fans were delighted about might not be all good news. Here is a link, it's worth the read.

http://www.sarna.net/news/harmony-gold-vs-battletech-an-actual-lawyer-weighs-in/

Now that Hairbrained Schemes have agreed to settlement discussions dated yesterday I think the timing is directly related to the decision by Paradox to buy HBS. This could be either one of two things. Either an offer to get rid of Harmony Gold followed by a permanent removal of the 'infringing' reseen, or a formal licence deal to use derivatives. Either is possible. However FASA learned that a derivative license has a timer on it, and thus even with security they removed the unseen. HBS has the same leadership and might follow the same policy. In either case Paradox will not want legal liabilities with their new investment.

Still live in hope to play the Marauder and Warhammer.

Be very sad if no Marauder or Warhammer - especially since I am playing with them in MWO :(

 TalonZahn wrote:
I guess I misread the part that says " they have agreed to a settlement in principle" and need time to make a written document.

They just want to write it out. Only IF they can't agree to the written language, then it would go on as before.

That pretty much means they've reached a settlement to me.

Although I'm not a Lawyer.

That (very) basically means they have agreed to sit down and talk about a settlement, but nothing has been set in stone, if the negotiations break down then the case will carry on from the point it was left at.

Given HG's history its unlikely that this is a good thing for them, in fact I would say its likely another delaying tactic to further waste PGI's time, my personal opinion (as a trained, but not practicing solicitor that is 10 years out of date) is that the case will carry on within a month after the negotiations break down, I cannot see HG agreeing to the licence of the unseen, in the same manner I cannot see PGI caving either as they would likely have to refund everyone who bought those mechs in MWO, a mech swap would not be an acceptable compromise for most.

Got my first perfect 10!

Ricochet, one of the first pilots I hired (and a KS pilot as well) has reached 10/10/10/10!

1420 days
1.3 mils banked
Argo upgrade at a nice point
Still have a excellent pool of pilots
Medium lance of:
ShadowHawk with one PPC and the rest SRM
Griffin with LRG Laser, Med Laser and LRM
Wolverine I'm about to kit out is a Bouncer
Catapult K2 with two PPC and Two Med Lasers

Next line to replace the Med's
Banshee
Thunderbolt
Catapult

I broke out my mechs from the tabletop game...

Edit


I,m enjoying building up and maintaining factions of Liao, Davion and whatever else for additional missions and loot possibilities

 Orlanth wrote:

 TalonZahn wrote:
Agreement to Settle

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iHCyjCHuMfYE2c2jGmIBSFgA60OjwG0/view


Which most likely means the settlement will be unreleased and HG will still keep the noose around the IP.

Personally, I would take them to the wall and force them to lose everything they claim to own.

This is bad news methinks.

Sarna sticky linked an article from a copyright lawyer that explained that the motion to dismiss with prejudice that fans were delighted about might not be all good news. Here is a link, it's worth the read.

http://www.sarna.net/news/harmony-gold-vs-battletech-an-actual-lawyer-weighs-in/

Now that Hairbrained Schemes have agreed to settlement discussions dated yesterday I think the timing is directly related to the decision by Paradox to buy HBS. This could be either one of two things. Either an offer to get rid of Harmony Gold followed by a permanent removal of the 'infringing' reseen, or a formal licence deal to use derivatives. Either is possible. However FASA learned that a derivative license has a timer on it, and thus even with security they removed the unseen. HBS has the same leadership and might follow the same policy. In either case Paradox will not want legal liabilities with their new investment.

Still live in hope to play the Marauder and Warhammer.

HBS isn't involved in the settlement. This case is confusing because the rights to battletech are all over the place, and computer game rights are separate from tabletop rights (because of the way FASA split the rights for the Mechwarrior and Mechcommander games and made a new company, which spun off and then other stuff happened). The lawsuit was against Piranha Games and assorted others. Catalyst bowed out early (didn't care enough to contest or even show up), and HG's claims against HBS were dismissed shortly before the game's release (basically because HBS pulled anything that HG can claim from the game, so HG couldn't pursue an actual case against them- the original suit claimed the Locust and Atlas were derivatives of Robotech stuff, which is twaddle). So at this point, the only people involved in the lawsuit are Piranha and HG.

What this means is, unless Piranha is going to go to the trouble of negotiating on behalf of HBS and others, it doesn't necessarily resolve anything. Keep in mind that the voluntary dismissal that article talks about in April made it impossible to re-file the SAME claim at a later date, but... HG's claim against HBS was nonsense- a thug move to make a small studio roll over. However, a separate and new claim about the Marauder, Warhammer and Archer (and Wasp, Stinger and Rifleman) closely resembling the Macross/Robotech mecha they were based on would not be nonsense (because the point of the revamped art is to be different enough, but still recognizable), nor prevented by the dismissal. So up until HG loses the license for good, this sword remains overhead.

But the big thing is HBS isn't in the lawsuit at this point. They came to an agreement almost two months ago. But their official stance is because the mech art and animations are Piranha's remakes for MWO, they're not going to comment on anything until the HG/Piranha suit is settled. Certainly don't expect to see the relevant mechs in Battletech 2018 unless Piranha uncategorically 'wins' AND extends a protective umbrella over HBS as part of the settlement (or trial, if settlement goes splat).

The legally smart thing for HBS to do at this point is a Battletech 2 that covers inter-Clan warfare pre-invasion that focuses on the Omnis and doesn't give two dead rats about anything Unseen (yeah, yeah, I know there are some garrison versions, but they aren't the central fan focus the way the unseen are in the inner sphere). Then once 2021 rolls around and HG's Robotech license expires, they can come back to the inner sphere...

Unless Big West or whomever wants to release Macross in the States for the first time, and raises a fuss about HBS using _their_ designs. But that's borrowing trouble from the future.


The big lesson from Battletech remains: don't license art designs for your game, no matter how crap your own stable of artists are. Make sure your company outright owns everything associated with the IP from day one. Additionally, if something does go wrong, replace it. Don't try to drag it out over 30 years because some of the fans are crying.

Well, I'm cruising at 40 million credits after finishing the campaign...and then my game randomly uninstalls itself from Steam?

I will say that despite my game crashing constantly (easily the most crashes I've ever had from a PC game I've owned), the game was great...and I will enjoy seeing it expand in the future. The campaign was okay, but I think they missed a huge trick in mission design - something I hope is addressed.

These aren't spoilers, but critiques...

1) As you progress through the campaign you no longer need lighter mechs. Essentially you end up being forced into heavies or assaults or being super sneaky (which almost never pays off). I would LOVE to see a mission type of "Deniable operations" with a set weight limit...giving you a reason to go back to 40-50 ton mechs on occasion. Basically do missions where you're trying to be low profile to not draw too strong of a response, so you engage with light or medium mechs, etc. The most fun I had in the game was in the medium mechs for a large chunk.

2) Just give us more types of missions. I enjoyed the staged campaign missions but would like more of those. Give us some silly missions later in the game where we face four or five lances of light mechs (despite us being in heavies or assaults). Mix it up a bit.

3) Now that I'm playing all of the five-skull missions post campaign it's just the same opposition almost every single match which is saddening.

4) Give us multi-lance missions; but hear me out! I don't mean controlling two or three lances...but rather let us set up two or three lances and then play those games in a row, with the outcome of the first game impacting the second. This would give us a reason to use second line pilots and give us a reason to use more mechs than our "best four" as we pretty much do all game. It'd be fun to have a scout mission (limited to lighter mechs) followed by a combat mission, etc. Give us more reason to keep light and medium mechs and give us more reason to have back-up pilots or pilots with alternate skills.

5) Reduce bulwark or give us another option as good as it. Later in the campaign and post-campaign I cannot find a reason to not take Bulwark on my assault mechs as it's just waaaaay too good, far above any other skill or ability.

6) If we'll be stuck to one lance at a time, I'm fine with that - but how about give us a couple different drop ships? Again giving us the flexibility of needing to have more pilots and mechs on standby. There are ways to expand the mercenary company idea without us running dozens of mechs at once. This could tie in to multi-stage missions. One dropship hits the moon with the intelligence station on it...then the basic mission begins the next game, etc. Lots of potential here for deeper gameplay.

7) Being 80+ hours in we need some more random events during the ship's journeys. They're extremely repetitive.

Overall, it's a very very good game and I'm enjoying myself. I just think there is a ton of room for really turning this from very very good...to great. I look forward to the future progress and add-ons.

All excellent points

Hopefully some will be implemented !

I do find some of the missions get a little same-y after a while but that is also perhaps an issue with strategy games like xcom and xcom 2. More mission types would help.

As i've previously figured a spam of light mechs would be an utter waste even if the game allowed more than 4 mechs max vs heavier mechs due to how the game plays. We have too few pilot capacity for too long and most small mechs are so garbage even if you outnumbered larger mechs 3 to one there'd be issues. Also the casaulty rate per mech warrior would be horrendous and nobody would get enough experience before being annihilated. You'd have to rely on more low experience dudes for sure and i could only imagine realistically light mech morale would be absolute garbage due to the high mortality rate. Medbay times for all the surviving pilots would also take up too much space preventing a good amount of active mechwarriors.

I like the game so far but i'm finding different things being effective. If i had to say 'sensor lock' isn't really useful when you only have 4 mechs. My preferred strategy is either to use melee or long range missile spam on a target until it becomes unsteady and loses it's evasive. Once it does i either hit it with some stuff to make it unstable and fall on its butt or i just precision strike it. Once it has fallen on its ass that's when 'death from above' hit chances got through the roof.

Right now i'm probably somewhere mid-game (i started later than most of you i'm sure) and i find the jagermech with some lowered armor and 4 ac/5's and 2 ammo is pretty good. LRM boat (some random mech) is also nice esp. with additional stability damage. I also had the 8 medium laser hunchback which i dropped out for a similar laser heavier mech with more melee abilities and jumpjets. Finally i have another large mech with a ac/20 and some other guns and maybe melee options.

I'm fairly shocked how hard the ac/20 hits. Regardless of where it hits it usually can take a good chunk out of a small or medium mech and then the rest of the damage hits torso.

Right now i'm unsure if i should aim headshots with any weapons. The percent to hit is always so low that i'd either only do it with the 8 medium laser mech or possibly the LRM spam mech. Even then i'd only expect to do a few head hits rather than knock a mech's head clean off. I do remember a couple lucky accidental head shots that totally took off the head though. It was an ac/5 one time and a DFA attack against a fallen mech in the other. Man it must've smashed the pilot in the enemy mech like a tin can or a soda can. Poor guy probably saw it coming the whole way too. Seriously the amount of dread that poor guy suffered. No way anybody could live a hit like that.

You'll find sensor-lock is beneficial later when you run into hard-hitting turrets and they're best avoided by locking them and hitting them with LRMs. Some of the later turrets have like four auto-cannon 10's and twin large lasers and PPCs all in one...so they suck ass. Avoiding that is huge.

Yep whilst sensor lock does tend to mean a single mech isn't doing much but sensor locking its very beneficial to let you lock on and deal damage whilst hiding from taking any; esp with rockets.

Waiting impatiently for DLC, finished the game with a mech I tied enough LRMs too that it could fire 70 missiles a turn for 20 turn. Hilariously overpowered when they all do extra stability damage so you knock over two guys each turn. So many ways to improve this game, some more structure would be great, now it just kinda dies when the campaign ends.

 Elbows wrote:


7) Being 80+ hours in we need some more random events during the ship's journeys. They're extremely repetitive.

What, you don't like your crew fighting over coffee or making burgers every other week

 Elbows wrote:
7) Being 80+ hours in we need some more random events during the ship's journeys. They're extremely repetitive.

Horse pucky!

I for one love eating Triple H burgers whilst manipulating a poker game at a movie night after we're rescued some poor spacers. And then doing it all over again. Again!

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
I'm fairly shocked how hard the ac/20 hits. Regardless of where it hits it usually can take a good chunk out of a small or medium mech and then the rest of the damage hits torso.

I call mine the 'Go Away Button'. I press it, and things go away.

 Elbows wrote:
You'll find sensor-lock is beneficial later when you run into hard-hitting turrets and they're best avoided by locking them and hitting them with LRMs. Some of the later turrets have like four auto-cannon 10's and twin large lasers and PPCs all in one...so they suck ass. Avoiding that is huge.

Agreed - outside of the campaign which often has time issues I hardly ever engage Turrets that can see me

I haven't played much on my own since I beat the game, but a good friend of mine plays as well so we finally decided to try out MP and see who was the better commander. PvP is very different because your 'morale' (its called Fury if you haven't tried it) builds much slower and only lets you precision strike. Pilots are also pre-gens with only two skills, so you'll miss more often, have less injuries, less heat threshold, and generally be less awesome than your single player version. This makes the game definitely longer, as chewing throw a medium mech takes time instead of just hitting precision strike on the CT.

I lost our first clash when I brought a Highlander, LRM Jager, and two lights. The second match we both brought 4 meds (him in 4 SHD, me in 3x SHD + AC20 Hunchback). All of my mechs had JJs, his didn't, so I ended up winning by blowing all his weapons off his last mech and kiting him. Took like 40 rounds, but a win's a win.

Overall I got a lot of mileage out of the game and would overall say it's worth it if you're into tacticals like this (And can handle the age old problem of Percentages seemingly stacked against you). I strongly hope we get more stuff and some overhauls. I got a couple gripes that could be adressed in the future:


1. Progression

The Difficulty Skulls are almost cartoonish in how inaccurate of an actual reading they give. And that's even when you KNOW the whole "Planet's get more difficult with story progression" thing the game doesnt actually tell you about. I've had missions on the same planet 1-2 skulls apart were it almost felt like the challenge was reversed. Early on it felt like the game vastly overestimated what a single Heavy actually contributes on the AI's side (Focus Fire is merciless in some cases), if it doesnt outright just hand you a free heavy Mech and thus throws the difficulty curve out the window.

The fact that the only powerlevel that really matter is raw tonnage, is rather dissapointing. I had a whole lot of Light Mechs and later Mediums on standby that never saw any use, because the game gives you little to no reason to just deploy your heaviest stuff. I think giving Mech's deployment costs, or adjusting rewards depending on deployed tonnage would've worked better. Especially since you could've done away with the large amounts of money taken away each month.

2. Campaign / Story

Probably the least interesting part of the game is the main story. Some parts are cute, like unique responses depending on the background (Especially if you actually know Battletech already), and some of the missions have unique deployments that are quite fun the first time. But the writing is distinctly "Meh", some reveals were unintentionally goofy and I enver really came to care for any of the characters.

The other Campaign Features are fine, Upgrading the Argo gives that little extra feel of success, even tough I feel like this could be expanded to actually contain some choices. Or at least Upgrades that go beyond "More of what you already have".

3. Pilots / Skills

This is probably the biggest bugbear along with equipment. The actual "skills" are really unbalanced. Multshot and the passive right after it outclass basically everything else. With the exception of having one guy with sensor lock in some mission types. I've tried having multiple setups with different skillsets, but a guy with both Gunneryskills just outclasses everybody else in terms of usefulness. Some rebalancing here to make actual build variation a thing would push the game greatly. Especially since it gives you 64 (!!!) Pilotslots by the end, all the while there are maybe 2 or 3 viable pilot variants. And that's not even mentioning that in terms of attributes, everyone can get to 10/10/10/10.

Theres a couple ways to do this. 1-2 extra attributes (Seperating heat management from the Gut's tree, for example) and rebalancing skills to allow actually usseful builds.

4. Equipment

This got boring pretty quickly. There's a point where you just skim the market for rare augments and "Weapon +X" and then move on. Never felt like the game encourages a lot of experimentation. Having weapons with different distributions would be cool. "More damage, more heat, less range, more ammo" or some such variants. This will probably get adressed with DLC or expansions. Would be particularly excited if we got some Clanstuff.

Stuebi wrote:
Multshot and the passive right after it outclass basically everything else. With the exception of having one guy with sensor lock in some mission types.

I disagree. Most of my guys have the Master Tactician one. I wouldn't leave home without it.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Stuebi wrote:
Multshot and the passive right after it outclass basically everything else. With the exception of having one guy with sensor lock in some mission types.

I disagree. Most of my guys have the Master Tactician one. I wouldn't leave home without it.

Yep, my default skill selection is Master Tactician and Bulwark for two pilots, a third might Multishot instead of Bulwark (depending on who is in the Medbay) but would still have Master Tactician, and my LRM boat will have Multishot and Master Tactician. Having my heavies go at the same time as mediums is just sooo good. And being able to sensor lock with anything and then LRM the crap out of it is good.

I can see why Master Tactician does feel nice. But overall, I'm almost positive I got more mileage out of being able to ignore guarded (Considering how much damage reduction it provides). Especially considering how powerful some of the Snipe-Weapons are.

My standard Layout was Multshot, Breaching Shot and Bulwark. Juggernaut is basically useless in a game where you only ever get 4 dudes and are frequently outnumbered. Ace Pilot, Sensor Lock and Evasive Movement would be the obvious choice for Pilots running Light Mechs, but as I said, the game never encourages you to use those, barring the very early game and one mission type. So I only ever had exactly one Pilot running that.

Personal preference aside, other people I know that play the game only ever have 1, maybe 2 dedicated builds. And it feels like the game wanted you to have a lot more variance than that. So I still hope they add or improve on this system.

I like all the skills, they each have their place and some may look weak but are deceptively useful.

That being said my style of play has three main go to skills, Master Tactician, Multitargetand Bulwark.

Bulwark saves on a lot of inspiration, and I use my inspiration defensively most of the time, in fact I avoid using inspiration so I can save it for saving my mechs. The only exception is if I must take down a target.

Multitarget is amongst other things a better for of sensor lock, I spread about one gun on each secondary target when needed to erode away evasion, also unlike sensor lock it does some damage.

Master Tactician is excellent, I use it to either move first or to stabilise mechs on the cheap. The latter comes with some risk, from time to time I have reserved down Master Tactician mechs to stabilise them when in hindsight I should have just moved them.

Sensor Lock is a tax to get to Master Tactician, it is a waste to use more than one Sensor lock a turn, yet Master Tactician benefits from company. When you add in the evasion reduction from Multi Shot, I dont use Sensor Lock much in its primary form.

However Sensor Lock is also a scout package, in any mech. Multiple Sensor locks allow me to ID all the targets early. I will prefer to use multiple Sensor Locks and know what I am facing while still out of combat range rather than use one and LRM away. Sensor Lock is also my go to throw in ability to use on a hot mechs cooldown turn, if I am not in melee range.
I find I use Sensor Lock a lot, and by default often have it more than the obligatory once. However I will never take Sensor Lock unless I am on the way to Master Tactician.

Breaching Shot is problematic as it doesn't synergise with Multi target, though the two do work together. It is good if you are packing an AC20, and is good for an Awesome as you can alternate three shot sand one shot with the PPCs. While Multi target is my default skill choice if I dont know what to take, I progress very few warriors to Breaching Shot.

I have never used Juggernaut, mainly because I cant afford to buy Guts beyond 4 or 5 unless the warrior is maxed out. If I want to reduce a melee opponent by a step it's easy, kick out its legs. This is the weakest skill, but I have heard of some player making good account of it with medium vs medium mechs as you can knock an opponent back to Initiative 1 and let your heavies carve it up. Too situational in my opinion.

Evasive Movement is nice, but sadly if you pump evasion chevrons you tend to get sensor locked, so I don't buy this often. If i do i also get the follow up.

Ace Pilot has a lot of potential, but doesnt really work as advertised. It can be good in dense terrain, fire then break LOS for one sided action. However that only really works if the target has nothing else to fire at, so its an all or nothing choice. It can also be used by a faster mech to reduce down to move at initiative one, exposing itself for fire only briefly then moving again. A standard trick with light mechs, except the escape move to break LOS also involves shooting.
Trouble is all this adds up to a lot of gimic but very little fire weight. Furthermore it ties agile mechs to finding appropriste blocking terrain which might not aways give good positioning options or range bands. Instead I find Ace Pilot is better off for assaults and heavies. First the evasion works well as you get some evade, normally two chevrons even on an assault, secondly the mechs are slow so they can expose or unexpose themselves at an end of a turn. An assault with Ace Pilot pays forward, yes you can see to hit it all turn, but it fires and conceals itself for next turn, and then re-emerges on the lowest initiative step. when all is said and done it wont totally escape fire like an Ace pilot light, but it doesnt require move than the odd bit of blocking terrain and reduces its exposure by half, which makes it very survivable.