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 Frankenberry wrote:
Been playing this recently and I've been reminded about just how grimdark the BTech future is.

As for the overall game? It's fun. Salvaging is frustrating, but I think that's most Mechwarrior games in general for me. Combat is a blast but I'm disappointed I can't field more than a lance - company level play would be better but given that OpFor is at max what...8 mechs? It'd require a complete rework.

Excited for the expansion too, the 1.3 patch is suppose to offer a free-roam esque style campaign option where you just run around doing what you want without the story missions appearing - something I'm surprised wasn't included initially.

I currently can;t get past that the missions just seem to be fight lots more Mechs than you field is the only way to balance it rather than actual elements to make the missions interesting like those in the story:

So time limits, mutiple objectives, large maps, linked scenarios etc.

 Mr Morden wrote:


I currently can;t get past that the missions just seem to be fight lots more Mechs than you field is the only way to balance it rather than actual elements to make the missions interesting like those in the story:

So time limits, mutiple objectives, large maps, linked scenarios etc.

Yea I can totally agree with this after playing it for quite a while now, there is just not enough different content in regards to the missions, I am hoping that the expansion coming up helps deal with this a bit.

I know a lot of folks are switching to Roguetech but from what I've seen, I don't think I will. I like what it brings to the table in terms of customization and various combat enhancements, but the realism factor kinda destroys it for me.

I can appreciate the additions in difficulty but it gets a little too heavy to me.

 Frankenberry wrote:
I know a lot of folks are switching to Roguetech but from what I've seen, I don't think I will. I like what it brings to the table in terms of customization and various combat enhancements, but the realism factor kinda destroys it for me.

I can appreciate the additions in difficulty but it gets a little too heavy to me.

All of those options can be changed as you please, and most of it is minor edits in text documents.

 Wolfblade wrote:

 Frankenberry wrote:
I know a lot of folks are switching to Roguetech but from what I've seen, I don't think I will. I like what it brings to the table in terms of customization and various combat enhancements, but the realism factor kinda destroys it for me.

I can appreciate the additions in difficulty but it gets a little too heavy to me.

All of those options can be changed as you please, and most of it is minor edits in text documents.

Wasn't aware it was so easy to edit, that certainly makes it far more in the realm of possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5w-11bZFM

Unimpressed by the Flashpoint video. (partly for them not setting it up properly- an end game mission with fresh starter pilots)

Mitch seems convinced light mechs and medium mechs are the same thing.

Plus the timer and the placement requirements make for a super annoying scenario. You obviously need faster mechs, but that second turn to activate the 'beacon' means moving no more than five hexes, leaving lights to be shot to hell.

Given the opposition, if you actually bring lights you'll be shot to hell.

This doesn't look like fun or interesting gameplay. Just more of the same degenerative (go as big as you can manage), but with timers. In this case shove some JJs on a pair of dragons to rush the back control points, and ram two assaults to the closest one.

Hmm - well at least it was something a bit different and a new map but sooo small.

Yeah Lights would be zero use in that one but they just used the new mechs to demo them I guess

 Mr Morden wrote:
Hmm - well at least it was something a bit different and a new map but sooo small.

Yeah Lights would be zero use in that one but they just used the new mechs to demo them I guess

Oh yeah. That was definitely to show off the new chassis (though they cut away from the Hatchetman awfully fast), but it seems odd to cheat in the mechs and not tweak the pilots.

But he mentioned three times or so that the mechs 'feel so light' and the scenario description is very absolute in its suggestion that lights are nigh-mandatory. And this is apparently after his mandate that the mission difficulty be scaled back. Kiva seems to be of the opposite opinion, that the flashpoints should be fiendishly difficult (which seems to mean timers, standing in specific zones, and other artificial limits).

The update with a free campaign mode (free of the mediocre story) appeals to me, but for a first look at the DLC itself, it seems pretty empty of things I'd actually want to spend money on.

I don't have Steam handy to check but is the DLC price something reasonable? Sounds like I'd be paying for three new mechs and a sandbox mode when I can just get Roguetech for free and have more.

 Frankenberry wrote:
I don't have Steam handy to check but is the DLC price something reasonable? Sounds like I'd be paying for three new mechs and a sandbox mode when I can just get Roguetech for free and have more.

It's not showing a price yet, just "Available: Fall 2018".

 Frankenberry wrote:
I don't have Steam handy to check but is the DLC price something reasonable? Sounds like I'd be paying for three new mechs and a sandbox mode when I can just get Roguetech for free and have more.

Thats the mod right? Is it good and is it stable?

Having completed the campaign there is not a lot left to do in the basic game (other than repeatedly face 8 Assault Mechs) so might give it a try if it offers a bit more variety.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Frankenberry wrote:
I don't have Steam handy to check but is the DLC price something reasonable? Sounds like I'd be paying for three new mechs and a sandbox mode when I can just get Roguetech for free and have more.

Thats the mod right? Is it good and is it stable?

Having completed the campaign there is not a lot left to do in the basic game (other than repeatedly face 8 Assault Mechs) so might give it a try if it offers a bit more variety.

From what I've seen from the one guy I watch that uses it, it's pretty solid. There are issues with new patches nuking saves, but from what he's said there are occasional crashes (but no more than vanilla did). The current version he's running even has some player-created models too, like a Bushwacker.

Got an email announcement for Flashpoint, price is $19.99 US, and it announces the next expansion will be Urban Warfare:

'Combat drops into metropolitan territory, with explosive results. Fight through urban sprawl with new Mechs and mechanics'

With a third expansion to be confirmed in 2019.

This all falls under a $60 Season Pass (but the first DLC is $19.99, so... uh... hmm. Sounds like a bad deal, unless DLC 2 or 3 are at a higher price). Flashpoint sounds pretty unappealing at $20, to be honest.

Edit: Alright, on steam the Season pass is $50, and currently 20% off. So not so bad. I guess the email was trying to convey '$60 value,' but did a poor job.

Voss wrote:
Got an email announcement for Flashpoint, price is $19.99 US, and it announces the next expansion will be Urban Warfare:

'Combat drops into metropolitan territory, with explosive results. Fight through urban sprawl with new Mechs and mechanics'

With a third expansion to be confirmed in 2019.

This all falls under a $60 Season Pass (but the first DLC is $19.99, so... uh... hmm. Sounds like a bad deal, unless DLC 2 or 3 are at a higher price). Flashpoint sounds pretty unappealing at $20, to be honest.

Edit: Alright, on steam the Season pass is $50, and currently 20% off. So not so bad. I guess the email was trying to convey '$60 value,' but did a poor job.

If we kickstarted it do we still haev to pay even if they have not done half the things they said they would by now?

You'd have to ask them, but as far as I know, the DLC weren't part of the kickstarter. That was... pointless cameos, Linux and a Solaris campaign, right?

Voss wrote:
You'd have to ask them, but as far as I know, the DLC weren't part of the kickstarter. That was... pointless cameos, Linux and a Solaris campaign, right?

Cameos were what I was after

Slight necro -

Urban Warfare trailer is out (below) with a June 4th release, and the next expansion is called Heavy Metal.

Gonna be interesting to see how they implement the EWAR concept.

Sterling191 wrote:
Gonna be interesting to see how they implement the EWAR concept.

Weirdly. From the way they're talking about it. Immunity to indirect fire and maybe some sort of targeting problem.

Also, only two mechs and one (raven) was supposed to be in the base game.
And apparently the fan favorite marauder and warhammer are going to be behind the DLC 3 paywall, and they were part of the kick starter campaign and intended for the base game.

The small number of added mechs in these overpriced DLC packs is pretty disappointing, especially since a most of these had assets in the original backer betas.

Raven was put on hold since they didnt have the EWAR module sorted for launch.

As to the Wammy/Marauder, those were casualties of litigation.

In neither case did it make sense to consume resources for something they couldnt use at the time.


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Voss wrote:


Weirdly. From the way they're talking about it. Immunity to indirect fire and maybe some sort of targeting problem.

How exactly is that weird? Makes perfect sense to me if accurate.

Fully destructible terrain is quite a big move for them. There was some in the campaign but not really huge skyscrapers so that's going to be quite a big change in terms of how they impliment it.

I hope there's rubble - it kind of makes me sad that when I think of strategy games that have wreckage and rubble I'm left thinking about Total Annihilation and that was decades ago!

I got a bit tired of waiting for new mechs to arrive, so I installed a mod.

Seems to work perfectly and no more waiting around to see if/when the Warhammer and Marauder turn up.

I did squee a bit when a PH jumped in to my mechs, fired off its lasers and promptly cooked itself, before I shot it to pieces - and to think that I used to believe it was one of the greatest designs ever...

I still only have the vanilla game. The thing i found lacking in it was good AutoCannon weaponry and enough melee options. Has any of this been fixed?

I stopped playing not long after the medium and heavy laser fix so medium laser spam wasn't so stupid on the hunchback. Of course you could just target the one massive weapon hardpoint to screw them over.

Sterling191 wrote:
Raven was put on hold since they didnt have the EWAR module sorted for launch.

As to the Wammy/Marauder, those were casualties of litigation.

In neither case did it make sense to consume resources for something they couldnt use at the time.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Voss wrote:


Weirdly. From the way they're talking about it. Immunity to indirect fire and maybe some sort of targeting problem.

How exactly is that weird? Makes perfect sense to me if accurate.

It seems that they won the case as MWO very shortly afterwards dropped the Warhammer IIC and the Marauder II, seems to me that they were sitting on both of these until they could be sure they could use them, no whether or not BT18 is part of that I am not sure, they use the MWO assets for the most part so I think that we will be seeing the warhammer and marauder mechs.

Sterling191 wrote:
Raven was put on hold since they didnt have the EWAR module sorted for launch.

As to the Wammy/Marauder, those were casualties of litigation.

In neither case did it make sense to consume resources for something they couldnt use at the time.

I'm not sure what you mean. All the mech and vehicle models are just directly from MWO. They'd already signed with PGI to use them [people dug into the backer beta and found them], they just haven't put them into the live game
Yeah, they had to delay the Warhammer and Marauder, but once the lawsuit was settled, they didn't have to put them behind a paywall at expansion 3.

The Raven, Warhammer and Marauder were listed as part of the kickstarter campaign and early access advertising. I understand the delays, but folding intended base content into two $20 upsells is a bit off to me.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Voss wrote:


Weirdly. From the way they're talking about it. Immunity to indirect fire and maybe some sort of targeting problem.

How exactly is that weird? Makes perfect sense to me if accurate.

I got a weird impression from the initial announcement- that they would effectively make nearby mechs invisible.
However, given the state of Battletech technology (poor), including sensors, and that their weapons are essentially direct-line dumbfire, ECM affecting ACs or lasers doesn't actually make much sense.

Given that several Raven variants don't have the ECM systems, there wasn't much reason to delay that mech either.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
I still only have the vanilla game. The thing i found lacking in it was good AutoCannon weaponry and enough melee options. Has any of this been fixed?
.

Uh... the computer game ACs are significantly, hugely better than their tabletop counterparts.

Apparently they balanced Large Lasers and PPCs by just making Med Lasers worse.

Way to 'GW' it guys.

Medium lasers have been a balance problem for 30 years. They were the best 3025 weapon bar none in terms of tonnage and heat to damage. They needed to be revised, as laser spam (specifically medium laser spam), was a consistent problem.

But when the game launched, large lasers and PPCs were actually even worse than they were in tabletop, and only adjusted after a lot of complaining. PPCs still aren't stellar, but standard large lasers are in the best state they've ever been in.

Medium lasers are still a really good choice, just not the absolute no brainier they were in tabletop.

Voss wrote:
Medium lasers have been a balance problem for 30 years. They were the best 3025 weapon bar none in terms of tonnage and heat to damage. They needed to be revised, as laser spam (specifically medium laser spam), was a consistent problem.

But when the game launched, large lasers and PPCs were actually even worse than they were in tabletop, and only adjusted after a lot of complaining. PPCs still aren't stellar, but standard large lasers are in the best state they've ever been in.

Medium lasers are still a really good choice, just not the absolute no brainier they were in tabletop.

Fond memories of loading up medium lasers on tanks. Even with the massive penalties of energy weapons on vehicles they were often still the best choice.

Yeah, well. That's the other big secret of Battletech. Battlemechs are actually the worst option of the setting's available weapon platforms, once you open the field to combined arms.

Voss wrote:
Yeah, well. That's the other big secret of Battletech. Battlemechs are actually the worst option of the setting's available weapon platforms, once you open the field to combined arms.

Not a secret if you are playing the game and run into a SRM carrier or two and it fires first :(