BattleTech

[+Asmodai MVC]

Harebrained Schemes is pleased to announce their return to Kickstarter this Fall to partner with Backers in co-funding the creation of BATTLETECH. Jordan Weisman, the creator of BattleTech and MechWarrior, is back with the first turn-based BattleTech game for PC in over two decades. Steeped in the feudal political intrigue of the BattleTech universe, the game will feature an open-ended Mercenaries-style campaign that blends RPG ‘Mech and MechWarrior management with modern turn-based tactics.

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[+Asmodai MVC]

It's live and already funded:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech

[HawkMan]

No clans... booo!

I mean, I'll probably play the hell out of it. but I'll be sad with no Mad Cat or Behemoth besides the clan invasion is the best time of BT universe. I need my Jade Falcons. Guess I'll have to wait for the sequel

[+Asmodai MVC]

No clans... booo!

I mean, I'll probably play the hell out of it. but I'll be sad with no Mad Cat or Behemoth besides the clan invasion is the best time of BT universe. I need my Jade Falcons. Guess I'll have to wait for the sequel

Personally I'm glad they started at the beginning.  If you start with clans, especially if the players have access to clan tech then you're pretty much done.  If they start with "classic" tech you can make an entire game of just that and then introduce Star League tech later or maybe even as extra rare mission rewards and such.

The clans can come later as an expansion pack/DLC or even a sequel and I'd be fine with that personally.  Of course I started on BattleTech playing the original miniature game in grade school with Technical Readout 3025 so I'd hate for all the stuff I know to be obsolete garbage as it would be if Clans and even Star League tech were there from the start... so perhaps I'm biased.

[HawkMan]

meh, pre clan is boring.

also, no Jade Falcons....

And well the IS did pretty well for itself after the initial invasion. and all the cool mechs come post clan warfare, hopefully they manage the same deal as the guys who make MWO though allowing them to bring back the "redesigned" forgotten mechs. 

[HawkMan]

Also one of the few TR's I had(well I may probably still have it somewhere...) was the I dunno.. 3055 or something I think , which included the Behemoth.. I love the Behemoth...

I'll wait and see for this game anyway though. I have yet to see a really good Battletech game played as a strategy game on computer. there's been some "decent" ones, but no greats, unlike the Mechwarrior games, that have mostly all been great. I'm thinking that BT is best on a table. 

[+Asmodai MVC]

And well the IS did pretty well for itself after the initial invasion. and all the cool mechs come post clan warfare, hopefully they manage the same deal as the guys who make MWO though allowing them to bring back the "redesigned" forgotten mechs. 

You know I had no idea the whole "redesigned" forgotten mechs thing happened (apparently they're called "unseen" in the community now).  I haven't played the game since the early 90's and all that happened after I stopped paying attention (apparently there was a lawsuit in '94).  I can't even imagine BattleTech without the Rifleman, Archer, Warhammer, Marauder, Battlemaster, etc.  These are the defining mechs of my BattleTech experience.

[HawkMan]

The American Macross license holders aren't terribly popular in the BT community.

[+Asmodai MVC]

Stage 2 Stretch Goal has been reached.  The single player story campaign in now in.  The next few goals just refine it and then on to Stage 3, the Expanded Mercenary Campaign where the game becomes open ended with procedural missions and such.  THAT's what I'm hoping for (I personally couldn't care less about Stage 4 which is PvP multiplayer)

[123456789A]

Wait so if this is pre clan, it doesnt have Timber Wolf? Please correct me if I am wrong.

[+Asmodai MVC]

Wait so if this is pre clan, it doesnt have Timber Wolf? Please correct me if I am wrong.

ROFL, no.

I had to look it up but Timber Wolf is apparently a Clan Omimech (one I knew as the Mad Cat from when I played).

There are no Omimech's of any kind in 3025.  No ER or pulse versions of energy weapons, no ultra or LB versions of auto cannons, no ferro-fiberous armor or endo-steel internal structure, no double heat sinks or XL engines, no gauss rifles, no thunder or swarm versions of LRMs, no streak versions of SRMs, etc. etc.

If they don't have the so called "unseen" though I'm not sure what's in the game.  The "unseen" list seems to constitute just about every pre-clan mech I remember and most of the ones that came in the original 3025 technical readout.  Atlas is in, woot! /s

[+Asmodai MVC]

Here's a handy link I found:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Inner_Sphere_'Mechs

Just look at the 3025 list minus the 3025 "revised" list (those are "unseen")  Apparently they augmented the massive loss of mechs by making lower tech versions of the 2750 Mechs in the revised edition.  For those that don't know 2750 mechs are actually higher tech and came along later (the 2750 technical readout was published years after the 3025 where BattleTech began and before 3050 which introduced the clans.) 

[123456789A]

ROFL, no.

I had to look it up but Timber Wolf is apparently a Clan Omimech (one I knew as the Mad Cat from when I played).

There are no Omimech's of any kind in 3025.  No ER or pulse versions of energy weapons, no ultra or LB versions of auto cannons, no ferro-fiberous armor or endo-steel internal structure, no double heat sinks or XL engines, no gauss rifles, no thunder or swarm versions of LRMs, no streak versions of SRMs, etc. etc.

If they don't have the so called "unseen" though I'm not sure what's in the game.  The "unseen" list seems to constitute just about every pre-clan mech I remember and most of the ones that came in the original 3025 technical readout.  Atlas is in, woot! /s

 

Geez, then what do they fight with then, sticks and stones?

I still find this interesting and will probably back it just because I like these things a lot.

Edit: nm, saw your link. Reading it now.

[+Asmodai MVC]

 

Geez, then what do they fight with then, sticks and stones?

In the original game there was only one version of each kind of weapon (no ER or pulse or Ultra varients of things).

You still had large, medium, and small lasers for energy weapons as well as the PPC and flamer.

You had autocannon 2, 5, 10, and 20 as well as the machinegun (primarily for anti-infantry) for projectile weapons.

For missiles you had SRM 2, 4, and 6 as well as LRM 5, 10, 15, and 20.

Believe it or not but that was enough to make quite a diverse set of mechs (and vehicles), rofl.

 

 

[123456789A]

In the original game there was only one version of each kind of weapon (no ER or pulse or Ultra varients of things).

You still had large, medium, and small lasers for energy weapons as well as the PPC and flamer.

You had autocannon 2, 5, 10, and 20 as well as the machinegun (primarily for anti-infantry) for projectile weapons.

For missiles you had SRM 2, 4, and 6 as well as LRM 5, 10, 15, and 20.

Believe it or not but that was enough to make quite a diverse set of mechs (and vehicles), rofl.

 

 

That's good to know. I also discovered this: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Apple_Computers_Interstellar

My strategy will be to use these futuristic Apple products in my Mech. According to this article, we now know why Apple is hoarding cash. They want to purchase an entire planet.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

I was so excited for this then I saw 'turn based'
I cant stand turn based games

[+Asmodai MVC]

I was so excited for this then I saw 'turn based'
I cant stand turn based games

 

If you can't stand turn based this is definitely not the game for you.  That's a key selling point for others (myself included).

As an interesting bit of turn-base vs. realtime trivia though I think the first BattleTech computer game was a turn-based game called BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (that's the first one I played anyway).  It was made by a little company called Westwood Associates at the time and it's sequel was a REALTIME game called BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge.  The Crescent Hawk's Revenge served as a prototype for what would later become Dune II and in turn lead to the Command & Conquer series.

[Ryoken]

Was just checking if someone posted about this yet

Hope they deliver, cause looks like a great plan.

[Ryoken]

I'm going to shamelessly bump this because it's slowing down, and I REALLY want to see what the goals are for Stage 3, the Expanded Mercenary Campaign! 

Currently it's funded to $1.6mil, $1.85 unlocks the Expanded Merc Campaign, $2.5 unlocks PvP Multiplayer \o/ Come on people, go forth and pledge!

While you are at it, also hit up the weekly goals. This week it's post images of your BT Collection on Twitter with #myBTstuff and #BATTLETECH the more we get, the more special content is unlocked, like e-novellas, and my personal goal of the Natasha Kerensky cameo in the Campaign. You can also help that along by liking the announcement on FB, Sharing it, Retweeting, liking their FB Page, and following their twitter.

Now stop sitting around having a Smoke and get it done!

[+Asmodai MVC]

While you are at it, also hit up the weekly goals. This week it's post images of your BT Collection on Twitter with #myBTstuff and #BATTLETECH the more we get, the more special content is unlocked, like e-novellas, and

my personal goal of the Natasha Kerensky cameo in the Campaign

. You can also help that along by liking the announcement on FB, Sharing it, Retweeting, liking their FB Page, and following their twitter.

 

Man after my own heart.  I do take some consolation on the fact that 32 points is "Add the Black Widows, including Mechwarriors, as an enemy unit you can fight in the skirmish game."  Natasha Kerensky of course being the leader of the Black Windows so she'll already be in the skirmish game at 32 points (we're currently at 24).  56 points gets her into the campaign as well though.  Personally I don't care much for Stage 4, the e-books, or the twitch goals but I REALLY, REALLY want Stage 3.  I can't wait to see what the sub-goals are for Stage 3 as well and getting all the famous units from the backer missions into the skirmish game and cameos into the campaign would be great as well.  Being the OP of this thread I backed on day 1 myself but it's nice to see someone else who seems to be almost as excited as I am!

I backed and enjoyed the Shadowrun games but my biggest complaint was that it's a set story that ends instead of a more open chance to run a groups of shadowrunners.  Stage 3 seems to directly address that issue in this game.

[Ryoken]

Agreed, the idea of an endless campaign is really the big thing that draws me. What I'm wanting to see is a mix between random single mission contracts, some small multi-mission ones, and some larger mini-campaigns.. Ideally where you actions have an effect not just on your standings after, but toward the rest of the mission group as well. Like, for example I go in and do a surgical strike, kill the one target, get out.. I go down path A, where as I spray and pray kill everything on the map, I get a second path, with different outcomes and effects. But we shall see, in about $250k.. That and hopefully the missions are truly diverse.. I play Eve Online a fair bit and one thing that drives me nuts about the missions are they are cut and dry. Did them once you did them a thousand times. Needs more random.

Also, I want proper "bad" missions. Where you go in, and you are ######ed. There is no way to win, it's you getting reamed like it or not. MechWarrior II Mercs had one or two like that for campaign reasons, but I wouldn't mind it in the extended. Cause lets face it, no one wins all the time. Not even the Wolf's Dragoons. Also would reinforce the idea that you don't want to send in all your best all the time.

[Ryoken]

12 Hours to go, if you want to get in on it \o/

PvP Multiplayer has been unlocked, all funds now go to making the game more polished, and updates after the initial release, including plans for a co-op mode.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/ 

[HawkMan]

Seriously. they opted for PvP for this before CoOp?...

[Ryoken]

Seriously. they opted for PvP for this before CoOp?...

Well, Battletech has always been a PvP game. From the tabletop on up. So ya, I think the made the right choice.

[HawkMan]

Well, Battletech has always been a PvP game. From the tabletop on up. So ya, I think the made the right choice.

But this is nothign like the tabletop. this is more like (as they state) the previous PC "RTS" game. PvP never really worked for these types of games. Coop could. 

personally I wouldn't play either coop or PVP though. if the make a proper fully 3D beautiful 3D models on a hexagonal 3D board battletech PC PvP game, then I'd play PVP witht he classic battletech rules.