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I don't think we'll see anything except for the odd patch for this game anymore. Next time they bring up BTech will be for the sequel, and that'll be a KS as well.

Let's just hope next time around they don't use Unity.

I like what this game has done to canon. It has pointed out quite formly that Battletech is rather thin in places. Yes there is a lot of mech variants and a lot of history and policics, but the social side is underdeveloped. I dont think the Argo was necessary, I would have enjoyed it as much having a fixer upper Union instead, but it highlights things overlooked, the rather gruelling transit system in the setting, the lack of variant technologies outside of era etc.

So I can buy ER Lasers in the shops in 3025. Why not. There has already been a partial retcon, technological extinction refers to when the manufacturing processes are lost, not when the items disappear entirely. Some lostech remains throughout the setting simply by being, found, well maintained or just not destroyed. Lostech in 3025 mean refurbished old weapons, and those produced in labs or hardware workshops. Its still technically extinct as they cannot be mass produced and issued with proper documentation and certification to major house militaries.

I always wanted this. Now I think the game went too far and made lostech too readily available. I would have prefered the items to be limited to a handful and possibly with a large tech and time cost to install, because by the time I completed the campaign my company was outfitted ready for 3049, Grayson Death Carlysle could have stayed home.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I don't think we'll see anything except for the odd patch for this game anymore. Next time they bring up BTech will be for the sequel, and that'll be a KS as well.

Let's just hope next time around they don't use Unity.

They don't need to, mods will be working on this for years to come. Clan invasion mods, Clan homeland setting, Amaris Coup setting, Dark Age and Jihad settings. Expect them all to come in time.
First thing that needs to happen is a company scale up. I do not think four models is the sweet spot, the game would flow well with two lances and likely three. They could take a leqal out of Crescent Hawks Revenge and allow only limited control over units over the commanders personal lance. So you move four models plus as many other lance formations as you have as groups, with the AI running them according to orders given. Company and reinforced company scale actions would flow fast then.

 Orlanth wrote:
I like what this game has done to canon.

The games - none of them - do anything to canon. That's been the official stance for a very long time. The games may tell stories from the canon, but they themselves are not canon.

And too many of them appearing in shops is just a weird quirk of the nested command/file structure for how the shops work in the game, something so complicated that the devs just gave up on fixing it for this patch. It's in no way indicative of how often LosTech would appear in the periphery (and especially amongst black market pirates, who apparently so many LosTech Assault 'Mechs that they might as well not be pirates anymore).

 Orlanth wrote:
They don't need to, mods will be working on this for years to come.

Yeah I don't much care for mods. Too often it's the creators' way of saying "I think this is what's wrong with the game, so I'm going to fix it!" rather than actually adding to the game. The presumptive nature of so many mods, that their way is the best way to play, as they're fixing what is clearly "wrong" with the case game, is a real turn-off.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I don't think we'll see anything except for the odd patch for this game anymore. Next time they bring up BTech will be for the sequel, and that'll be a KS as well.

Let's just hope next time around they don't use Unity.

I've rarely seen a developer go to the time and expense of working on a game engine and not having the sense to squeeze at least 3 games out of it (unless they bomb)

Even if they're a weird mess of revisions, like Shadow Returns, Dragonfall and Hong Kong.

Agreed, game engines are very expensive and a huge time and resource sink for developers, esp smaller developers. Many times its much better for them to improve within one engine than engine jump.

For such a fairly "easy" game to mod, you just hope it grabs the eye of a group like what the "Long War" mod did for X-Com.
It really is fun to see when the creator of a game says that their game is the tutorial for the mod.

Mods are absolutely a way for a person or group to demonstrate how they think the game should be played.
Some by the viewpoint of better fitting in the Battletech universe, some just to make the game more fun.
We all have our own opinions and the only way they are 100% right is for ourselves.

As to the "realism breaking behavior of the black market", I assume there is a shaking down of contacts based on the fine reputation of your mercenary group going on in the background that creates these unique opportunities.

I have dug around a bit in the various text files that configure the way the market works, it is truly impressive how a few small settings based on the item and then planetary config that makes things complicated in a hurry.
All that started it for me was trying to get my mitts on gauss ammo, it sure sucks when you have the gun but lost the ammo.

The Heavy Metal expansion I like mainly for how they add unique perks/stats to a given chassis of mech.
Makes them have a bit more character than some box to stuff as much of your toys into as you can fit.

I have been a fan of Battletech for decades and this game scratches the itch of seeing a variety of mechs stomping around and allows fantastic customization without delving into the skeletal frame or engine styles.
I know this game is a winner when I had a map where both the computer and I had all our mechs dead except for one each, all our weapons were gone and it all boiled down to a slug-fest of hand-to-hand: it was glorious (not a good situation to be in long-term but was riveting all the same).

 Talizvar wrote:
For such a fairly "easy" game to mod, you just hope it grabs the eye of a group like what the "Long War" mod did for X-Com.
It really is fun to see when the creator of a game says that their game is the tutorial for the mod.

I honestly don't think that's 'fun.' It makes me think the creator is lazy and needs to get back to work, not leave the game full of holes for others to fix.

Though, I'm not sure that makes sense in this instance anyway. The stance of HBS for this game until recently was 'mods are unofficial, we don't support them and if things don't work with mods that's your problem.'

Mods are absolutely a way for a person or group to demonstrate how they think the game should be played.
Some by the viewpoint of better fitting in the Battletech universe, some just to make the game more fun.
We all have our own opinions and the only way they are 100% right is for ourselves.

I think that's HBMC's point. Its certainly mine. If it can only be 100% right for the Mod creator on how the game 'should' be played, its default wrong for everyone else.
Its particularly true with a lot of the BT mods I've seen. They're very vocal about 'righting wrongs,' much more than adding fun options.

That was my point, yes.


Went into the game to see what the new colourblind feature is. Changes the LOS lines to blue. I could actually see them in a Martian biome, so that's a nice change.

Oh. That is a good change. Does it make range bands visible on tundra/ice maps?

Been playing with the Battletech extended mod (with BiggerDrops) and just finished my second career playthorugh, this time as the head of an 8 mech recon company. Watching assault mechs explode when a vulture or firestarter gets behind them is glorious and the dueling missions were massacres as I just jumped behind my opponents and blasted them.

Now...do I run a missile boat company or an autocannon themed one?