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We just hit the $6 million mark

 kilcin wrote:

 petrov27 wrote:
Is there any good breakdown for the value of the Kickstarter out there by pledge level depending on the funding end level? Like something that would show how much we would be paying per mini? I know there were spreadsheets out there but having trouble finding...

Perhaps the google spreadsheet from this reddit post can help you: https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/1208hhe/i_was_summoned_battletech_ks_management_tool_2/

Excellent - thank you

Yeah, I'm sitting at the Veteran level and considering a Company pledge.

"But if we hit 7m, that's $70 for 4 more force packs!" some will point out, except that $70 US is a bit under $100 Canadian, which isn't too far off what I'd expect to pay for 4 force packs (plus taxes, and yes I'm aware the cost seems to be going up with this era of releases), but also adds shipping and a possible VAT for a failure to live in the USA, which means I'm probably breaking even at best, likely paying more than retail (possibly by a substantial margin).

Not every campaign is for everyone, I get that, but still, it's a balancing act.

10m as a target is kind of funny. I do think we'll hit 7m, and 8+ doesn't seem impossible, but we're jumping from "top 30'ish campaigns by funding ever (not adjusted for inflation)" to "top 20'ish" to "feth it, top 10?" or so.

Aim for the stars, sure, but it makes it seem a bit less likely that they seriously intend to get there, which reduces the seriousness with which I can take such claims/suggestions.

And yes, I'm aware that the campaign said early on that they didn't want to cannibalize LGS sales too badly, that just buying at retail online or locally is great and good and yay!

But it's a bit at odds with folks frothing at the mouth to get everyone up to a triple Battalion or whatever. :-P

 Forar wrote:
"But if we hit 7m, that's $70 for 4 more force packs!" some will point out, except that $70 US is a bit under $100 Canadian, which isn't too far off what I'd expect to pay for 4 force packs....

ForcePacks will be $30 USD for Inner Sphere and Legendary MechWarriors II ForcePacks, $35 USD for Clan and Legendary MechWarriors III ForcePacks and $40 USD for the Battlefield Support packs (excluding the Objectives pack which will be $30). Note that if you select Inner Sphere ForcePacks, you will get a Mercenaries Salvage Box for each Inner Sphere ForcePack.

Fair, but the dangling "shipping + VAT" question will likely at least put them in the same ballpark, and given my local stores often charge a bit under MSRP, and that's before we start talking sales, there's almost no chance I'm saving anything buying in bulk here.

I get that some folks live in gaming deserts, and have to capitalize on every opportunity they can.

This feels (at the Company level) more like paying $200+ Canadian for $200+ Canadian in stuff 1-2+ years in advance with giant question marks on at least two fronts, the chance for delays, etc.

I'm not ruling out bumping up from Veteran, but us international folks get fethed on shipping often enough it'd be poor pattern recognition not to at least be a bit wary.

Funny that when I do it, I'm "whinging" and "whining" when I'm just sick of CGL not doing what they damn well know would drive this KS to the numbers they THINK it's going to. If you want to bend over and take the crumbs, have fun. It's people of that ilk CGL relies on to point out to everyone else the MAD VALUE they are *graciously* giving the rest of us.

Unless they whip out their tits, this isn't hitting 8m let alone 10m.

The whole KS has been more "here's some gak we digitized you can have for free and something else we'll "unlock for purchase" and less "here's some free gak you actually want and can use for the game, which happens to also be the reason you're all here" and that straight sucks.

All the "free" digital" gak was already/going to be digital. No one is paying $20 for an E-Book based off CGL value. Overvalued pot metal coins and patches are...ok I guess. I suppose I can throw them at someone.

The fact that Regiment has, and still does, remain less valuable to mini customers over double Battalion shows that CGL doesn't give a gak about what people think where the value sits. CGL made their nut $2m ago, and has punched out since.

To be fair, I think this is a very reasonable sophomore kickstarter outing. With their first, they had objectively more popular mechs, and a much larger draw- and pulled in 2.5 million with all the bells and whistles, mystery mechs appearing at most stretch goals, doubled force packs, dice, the works. It took much longer than they anticipated to fulfill, and got away from them.

From the start, their goal with this one was a limited kickstarter that was quick to fulfill. Most of the artwork was done, scuplpting finished, heck, most of the models were even ready to go at launch! But then, the fans happened. We threw so much more money at them than they expected that they still tried to give some rewards, without messing up their timetable too badly. I suspect they got the mix wrong there, and frankly, I think a great deal fo the problems could have been avoided if they'd done this in the 10 day or 2 week format instead of the monthlong campaign. I do agree with you Talonzahn, that far from encouraging it, Catalyst actively discouraged the sort of pushes you see from stretch goals in this one, because they were quite meager. Where I disagree is that I think this was a very successful pre order style kickstarter. We are not getting the heady discounts and value of the first one, and it's nowhere near as exciting as voting on the content of forcepacks, or what mechs we want to see next, but it is far more practical. My hope is they'll fulfill (relatively) quickly, and follow this model again in a few years, less than the 4 or 5 it's been since Clan Invasion.

 TalonZahn wrote:
Funny that when I do it, I'm "whinging" and "whining" when I'm just sick of CGL not doing what they damn well know would drive this KS to the numbers they THINK it's going to. If you want to bend over and take the crumbs, have fun. It's people of that ilk CGL relies on to point out to everyone else the MAD VALUE they are *graciously* giving the rest of us.

Unless they whip out their tits, this isn't hitting 8m let alone 10m.

The whole KS has been more "here's some gak we digitized you can have for free and something else we'll "unlock for purchase" and less "here's some free gak you actually want and can use for the game, which happens to also be the reason you're all here" and that straight sucks.

All the "free" digital" gak was already/going to be digital. No one is paying $20 for an E-Book based off CGL value. Overvalued pot metal coins and patches are...ok I guess. I suppose I can throw them at someone.

The fact that Regiment has, and still does, remain less valuable to mini customers over double Battalion shows that CGL doesn't give a gak about what people think where the value sits. CGL made their nut $2m ago, and has punched out since.

Perhaps you should sit this one out, we really, really don't need you.

Truth be told, we now know the community will simp for Battletech. So they have no incentive to offer rewards.

I am disappointed by the tight fisted response to stretchgoals, but they are a business and they have enough market incumbency that they don't have to give away a free lunch. Therefore I cannot truly blame them for going cheap on us.

I would like to get to $7M and get a final tangible reward, but wont count on that. $8M is unlikely as most people wo want in are already in.
As for the unreached unlocks, Catalyst will unlock the purchasables anyway, they will appear during the pledge manager phase, because they like money. All this unlocking is just BS. What actually matters to us are the stretchgoal bonuses.

One million in 60 hours, is possible, we might reach new blood, but I am not expecting an end rush unless we are close and people up their pledges to chase this goal.

At least 4 of us in our group have yet to jump in. We have had very little time to try our Battletech Alpha Strike, though we all have purchased at retail basically full pledges. I'm not much for all the digital stuff and as I do not live in the lore of Battletech, the swag holds no sway over me. I might still jump in on the lowest level by the end of the campaign and bump up later, but one thing that really annoys me on kickstarter is the get XXXX if you hop in during the first 24 hours. I understand it's to encourage that first giant burst to grab attention, but I have not backed a couple campaigns because I didn't hear about them until a week into them. Oh well, first world problem for me as I'll be able to print most of what I want anyway.

 Orlanth wrote:

One million in 60 hours, is possible, we might reach new blood, but I am not expecting an end rush unless we are close and people up their pledges to chase this goal.

I don't see that much value on the 8 million goal, but maybe the cartoon nostalgia will pull in people.

M.

There is the genuine benefit of a free Blood Asp, and Regiment backers finally get a small bone by getting the Somerset Strikers for free..

Which make it far less of a kick in the teeth than other even million "rewards".

 Theophony wrote:
I might still jump in on the lowest level by the end of the campaign and bump up later, but one thing that really annoys me on kickstarter is the get XXXX if you hop in during the first 24 hours. I understand it's to encourage that first giant burst to grab attention, but I have not backed a couple campaigns because I didn't hear about them until a week into them. Oh well, first world problem for me as I'll be able to print most of what I want anyway.

For many campaigns, that item remains utterly exclusive and impossible to acquire after the fact. For this one it's an $8 add on.

I get that for many it's the principle of the matter, but if one instead looks at it as 'the Veteran is $88, and you get a little under 10% off if you back it in the first 48 hours' it's really not that big a deal. At higher tiers it's basically a rounding error in the cost anyways.

I'm not a fan of pieces and game mechanics being time gated away, but an early bird gift that anyone can snag (in bulk if they so choose) in the PM seems like a reasonable enough middle ground.

It all comes down to the 48 hour warning I think. The live-streaming stuff hasn’t kicked off an exponential increase. The past couple of days has led to a bit of an increase but not set it on fire.

Any campaign that blows through its entire expected set of stretch goals in a day has very limited incentive to offer much more

 Soundtheory wrote:
Perhaps you should sit this one out, we really, really don't need you.

Removed - rule #1 please.

If you were as aware as you think you are, you'd realize the digital rewards are worth NOTHING.

Even CGL admits that with the other $275 level pledge of just Physical rewards and no digital rewards.

Also removed.

What is CGL valuing the digital novels at? My three unread ones where $5.99 at Amazon's Kindle store. I went through the 1st three pages of GGL's own webstore, saw a few at $6.99, but most were at $4.99.

The $275 level pledge is a mistake, it was intended to be an Add On, not a whole tier unto itself, and is tied to the fact that backers who pledge for multiple tiers don't get literally everything in multiples (including the Visigoth for day 1&2 backers, the 4" Timberwolf, and the digital files that people may or may not need 1 of, let alone 2+ of).

That tier isn't indicative of a cost being negligible, it's indicative that someone screwed up.

Edit: and I say that as someone who doesn't particularly value all of the short stories and other digital odds and ends backers are getting. Even at a lower tier, I'm backing primarily for plastic, not a half dozen ebooks I may or may not ever bother reading.

Based on a quick mental count up of reward listings versus the “value” figure quoted, the ebooks seem to be about $5 each, so commensurate with your estimates AncestralHamster.

 Flinty wrote:
It all comes down to the 48 hour warning I think.

Normally so. But who would it warn.

We might get some new traffic from gamers completely outside the Battletech community who see a successful campaign and bandwagon on it.

 TalonZahn wrote:

If you were as aware as you think you are, you'd realize the digital rewards are worth NOTHING.

Broadly true. They cost nothing, once the words are typed out, and thus they offer next to nothing.
You cant give them away (legally) as it is a data product, not a book, so they are no investment.

But it is not true to claim they have universally not value.

 TalonZahn wrote:

Even CGL admits that with the other $275 level pledge of just Physical rewards and no digital rewards.

Not a fair comparison. The lack of Digital rewards at Company Store is indicative of the truth that a retailer cannot sell the ebooks. Ebooks are for personal pledges, and the lack of them at a specific pledge level is not indicative of value but appropriateness for the reward tier.
A store owner who personally plays will be mindful of the direction to include a personal pledge if they want that content, and as many Company Store pledges as they want to stock up with.
This separation is not mandatory, but as the addage goes: "don't get high on your own supply".

Well alledgedly there are thousands more people signed up to the backerkit page than to the actual Kickstarter. Also there’s may well be an untapped set of fans out there somewhere. I mean I can’t believe that there are only 20k or so players in the world.

However, I also will only believe it when I see it. I think CGL did a good job in publicising the launch, but I’m not tapped into the right media to see how well they may have reached beyond that audience during the campaign.

Not the Company Store, so nice try. The OTHER one labelled Bundle.

It's not a mistake, it's for people that don't want the extra garbage, but CGL shot themselves in the foot by removing the Visigoth also.

Of course the digitals are worth nothing:
A) The majority of them were already printed and sold.
B) The majority have already been converted to digital and sold
C) Since the above has happened, there's almost no money left to be made/recovered, so they're a safe throwaway.

 Flinty wrote:
Well alledgedly there are thousands more people signed up to the backerkit page than to the actual Kickstarter. Also there’s may well be an untapped set of fans out there somewhere. I mean I can’t believe that there are only 20k or so players in the world.

However, I also will only believe it when I see it. I think CGL did a good job in publicising the launch, but I’m not tapped into the right media to see how well they may have reached beyond that audience during the campaign.

I want to believe this but remain sceptical. I don't want to pin any hopes on getting an extra two Forcepacks. At battalion, it would amount to just under a 'double reward' pledge that we should have unlocked millions ago.

I think it would be vain to hope for a free Blood Asp.

I want to be wrong though. I especially want to get eleven force packs for my pledge rather than nine, it looks far more like a deal. The Blood Asp would be nice, but is less important. I would settle very much for a seven million breakthough.

As for nine million dollars, I can only dream, and there is no guarantee Catalyst will offer us thirteen force packs even if we did.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 TalonZahn wrote:
Not the Company Store, so nice try. The OTHER one labelled Bundle.

Apologies, my error. I had quite forgotten about that since day one, and have no idea why it is even there.

It only makes sense if this pledge level had no access to add-ons. This way Catalyst can make a literal 'bundle' of content for cheap shipping which is what is implied. However as fore packs are to be chosen this cannot be the case.

I could easily see the benefit of a minimum packaging pledge level where you get a set reward in 'retaliation' boxes for minimum volume. As this is a volumous product and shipping costs will be prohibitive a genuine saving could be made there.

However why should that disavow and DLC, there is no shipping volume attached to DLC.

This whole Bundle makes zero sense.

I would have been tempted with a 'loose mechs in a box' bundle, with only the main Mercenaries box in retail packaging. I would still have been tempted if the box of loose mechs came with a standardised set of force packs dumped in. It would result in a significant shipping saving. The last campaign resulted in two massive boxes, and mostly consisted of air shipped from China.

The Kickstarter just hit $6.25 million. Can we make $750k in the next 48 hours

 Flinty wrote:
Based on a quick mental count up of reward listings versus the “value” figure quoted, the ebooks seem to be about $5 each, so commensurate with your estimates AncestralHamster.

Thank you, Flinty. So they've not inflated the ebooks value.

 TalonZahn wrote:
Not the Company Store, so nice try. The OTHER one labelled Bundle.

It's not a mistake, it's for people that don't want the extra garbage, but CGL shot themselves in the foot by removing the Visigoth also.

Let's take a quick glance at the description, shall we?

"This add-on is the equivalent of the Battalion Pledge Level."

I have no idea why they haven't bothered closing it. Being 'the Battalion but without the digital bits' is... the same as being the Battalion but they don't bother sending extra codes.

It says "add-on" in the first line of the description!

The folks running the campaign are hardly incapable of making a mistake, and I think there have been some missteps and room for improvement, but you're really reaching on this one. I'd give good odds they just treat it like a Battalion in the end, and sort it all out in the pledge manager.

It’s there for all the backers who want to pledge a double Battalion but don’t want double the digital rewards.

They really don’t need a specific tier for that. Again, that can be sorted out in the pledge manager.

I could swear they even said that backers would only get one set of digital rewards, making it a moot point, but it’s approaching 2am so that’ll have to wait for tomorrow if someone else doesn’t find it or prove me wrong in the interim.

 Forar wrote:
They really don’t need a specific tier for that. Again, that can be sorted out in the pledge manager.

I could swear they even said that backers would only get one set of digital rewards, making it a moot point, but it’s approaching 2am so that’ll have to wait for tomorrow if someone else doesn’t find it or prove me wrong in the interim.

It doesn't make any sense at all. If you don't want digital rewards don't download them. They will not crawl onto your hard drive.

I mean, there was that one time with that U2 album...

I think it's less about the downloads and more about not needing to send out piles of codes.

Some folks in the comments are talking about going triple Battalion and double Regiment, etc.

The digital media codes being one per backer makes sense to me.