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KickStarter BattleTech Pre-Release Thread

Weasel
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Dec 14, 2012
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One more mech:

HBS_HighCommand

bc04768a9e15df7bb988c87602a4b264ef15431b49d52e78873b493827b16e3cu19.jpg

Co-founder & Studio Head, HBS "In success, all things are possible." BTW, Focus = Quality.


Hey y'all! Guess what? This bullet point detailing an addition to the Skirmish Beta was accidentally deleted from the update:

  • The Firestarter BattleMech! We’re excited to see how flamers change your gameplay.
Flame on! Have fun!
 
Weasel
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Fucking again!? I thought that shit was settled ages ago!

Look back a few pages. HG looking for another payout it seems.

Anyway, watched the video as thought it worth seeing what an actual copyright lawyer thought of it. First 10 minutes is mainly him reading out the details of the claim, then he goes through the comparison of the mechs, last 5 or so mins is when he actually gives a few opinions and insights into the process. Hedges his bets, sounds sceptical of the burden of proof for the "infringements", the one takeaway from this video is his opinion that this probably wasn't designed to go to trial, just in search of another settlement. Which is what most have thought from the beginning, and it seems PGI has a fund set aside for just this sort of action and want to settle things once and for all, without this happening every time they release another title.
 

Infinitron

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https://www.pcgamesn.com/battletech/battletech-evasion-change

Player feedback made Harebrained redesign Battletech's 35-year-old evasion mechanic

An update to BattleTech has dramatically changed the way evasion works in the game. Alongside several other changes to the single-player Skirmish beta, the Evasion, Sensor Lock, and Evasive Move mechanics have “all received major revisions.”

In a forum post, social media and community manager Robin Gitelman details some highlights of the update. The largest of these is to the the way evasion works in the game, which has been substantially changed. This is something that Jordan Weisman, the CEO of developers Harebrained Schemes, talked about in a recent interview we did with him.

Weisman tells us that due to the tabletop version of BattleTech being such a complex game, his team are attempting to make the digital version more accessible, especially as it’s reaching a new audience. Evasion, however, is an example of “where we actually made it a little more complicated than the tabletop,” Weisman says.

“In the tabletop [version], there's a hit modifier based on how much you move. Now we've embraced that and expanded on it, so the faster you move the more evasion pips you get,” Weisman explains. “These are little chevrons that show up on the side of the mech's HUD element. Those chevrons can be whittled down with each attack.” The idea, then, is to encourage players of BattleTech’s digital version to move more hexes in order to receive a boost to defence, which remains constant for that round.

Weisman says that they “wanted to recognise that the more shots you take on that mech you're ranging it down.” In simpler terms, this means the more times you hit a target, the less evasive it becomes, and you become more likely to be able to hit that target in the future. Weisman gives the example of using lower-damage units, who will be able to hit your target, even if they won’t be able to do significant damage to it, which will allow higher-damage units a better chance of scoring a hit later in the round.

Weisman adds that “this is something that was done in response to early beta feedback,” and that today’s update is the result of the team reflecting on that, with “this evasion mechanic [being] one of the major things in response to that feedback.”

Other changes made in the update affect the moral system, increasing the frequency and intensity of critical strikes, and some tuning to weapon balance. There’ll also be changes to AI, and a secret multiplayer beta test, although the latter might not go live with the rest of the update. You can read the entire patch highlights in the forum post, linked above.
 

Vorark

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Good on them. Hope HBS got a nice $ reserve to keep developing the game and settling those copyright claims. Want a new Shadowrun, dammit.
 

Infinitron

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1964822

Skirmish Beta Update is LIVE! And the Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta Test Is LIVE, Too! And Gen Con 50!!!

252afa9aef8e1c7db8c5d0c0e2f32172_original.jpg


Happy Update Day, y’all!
The update to our Single-Player Skirmish Backer Beta is live on Steam right now and your game should automatically update in your Games Library with no action needed from you (assuming you keep Steam running on your machine - if not, just launch Steam and the beta will automatically begin the update). One addition we neglected to tell you about in our last Kickstarter Update - the beta now includes:
  • The Firestarter BattleMech! We’re excited to see how flamers change your gameplay.
We shared the highlights and big changes in our last update, but for those interested in all the gory details, you can find a complete list of changes here.

Your Backer Beta Manual has also been updated to reflect all the gameplay and balancing changes we’ve made in response to all your great feedback. Thanks a ton for all the help!

Have fun everybody!

Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta Test is LIVE too!
As we said in our last Kickstarter Update, the Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta Test is for those hearty souls willing to opt-in and help stress test the system in the wild. All Backers with Beta Access are invited to participate but by opting-in, you accept that you may experience connection issues, crashes, and dropped games - which is exactly what the test is aimed to fix.

The Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta Test is separate from the current Skirmish Beta and will require a separate password. Again, once we’ve eliminated enough bugs and issues, we’ll shut down the Double-Secret Beta Test and automatically update the Beta for everyone to include multiplayer so all you MechCommanders out there can go head-to-head!

You can find instructions for getting in the Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta Test, a list of Known Issues, and some Troubleshooting info here: Double-Secret Mulitplayer Beta Instructions

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If you’re at Gen Con and feel like you’re missing out on the Beta Update, swing by booth 2311 and give it a whirl. The booth is set up for new folks to play Single-Player Skirmish and all you old pros to try 1v1 Multiplayer. Jordan will be at the booth all weekend so even if you don’t have time to play, stop by and say hi!

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A few members of our intrepid demo team.


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Morning shift, reporting for duty!
 
Weasel
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This [REDACTED] issue they were having on PvP chat was suitably prosperous, people were having their comments like "tis but a scratch" replaced with [REDACTED], so their opponents would assume they were being abused and get butthurt :cool:

2nIqKJB.png
 
Weasel
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So there's another wrinkle involving HG, tangentially related to BT, this time with a legal action against Tatsunoko (the company they originally licensed the non-Japan rights to Macross from in the 80s, although it has apparently since been established in court in Japan that Tatsunoko didn't actually have these rights to license in the first place)
https://www.open-public-records.com/court/california-23006746.htm

So Leonard French did another video covering this latest action:


Summary - although he says this has "nothing to do with Battletech" in terms of this specific action, it is interesting that HG has only a few years left in terms of the original Macross deal.

nigiTVm.png
 

mwnn85

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What a complete legal fuck up.
This could go back and forth for years across different regions and cost a fortune.

I don't understand why FASA even felt the need to licence designs or artwork from the japs originally when Battletech was originally written.
It's the rule system what makes the game work.
Who really gives a shit what the robots exactly look like or what names they have.
They certainly didn't need to be licensed from some obscure japanese cartoon.
Dumbest decision ever.

Marvel didn't link Transformers to Macross in any way and got the lawsuit filed by Harmony Gold dismissed.
Good luck trying to patent a "generic bi pedal robot", "walking robot" or other similar type phrases.
Fair play to Harmony Gold for managing to bilk the japs out of all worldwide rights. Masterful trolling. Not a million miles away from domain squatting.

:excellent:

Hope they don't manage to get a cut out of the sales from Battletech.
And do Microsoft fit in? I thought they owned certain electronic rights to MechWarrior and/or Battletech? Topps?
No wonder nobody has wanted to touch this hot potato for years. Harebrained Schemes indeed.

As for the game. Looks like it's been stuck in development hell. Kickstarter ended in Nov 2015.
Backer Beta looks interesting but far from finished. Mid 2018 at the earliest.
On the plus side it raised far more money than originally asked for.
Was looking forward to this too - really liked Mechcommander

:negative:
 

Infinitron

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Two and a half years of development isn't development hell, it's completely normal. Perhaps you're comparing BattleTech to Harebrained's previous games, which were developed unusually quickly. This one is much more complex.
 
Last edited:

Jack Dandy

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Hey, somebody clear up something for me-
Didn't Harebrained get some dude to basically redesign all the "Unseen" mechs?

What are HG even trying to say? That they didn't redesign them differently enough?
 
Weasel
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What are HG even trying to say? That they didn't redesign them differently enough?

Yep, and (in most people's opinion) angling for a settlement as they have done in the past, but PGI have apparently set aside funds to fight it and get the future of the franchise clarified. The HBS link seems the most tenuous and the image comparisons are a bit laughable, but this may be related to trying to drag JW in as he was a signatory to the settlement the last time this happened. The last few pages of this thread have all the details and links.
 
Weasel
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Ended up putting that French video on while I was doing something else, long and convoluted but a couple of interesting moments:

(minutes)
17 - 2003 Amendment to rights deal between Tatsunoko and HG included the following phrase (obviously related to the legal action in Japan involving Tatsunoko, Big West and Studio Nue) "grants to licensee (HG) whatever rights licensor has (if any)". French referred to that as resembling a "quick claim deed", like one would use in a property sale where one wasn't sure what exactly one owned or who else had a claim on it.
22 - Mention of live action movie rights, seems there was a 2007 movie possibly in the works, now again in 2016
25 - History of agreement between HG and Tatsunoko going back to 1984
27 - Japanese legal action, in 1998 Big West (produced Macross along with Studio Nue and Tatsunoko) sued Tatsunoko, saying they alone owned the rights to produce sequels to Macross, court ruled in Tatsunoko's favour in 2003 (confirmed on appeal in 2005) BUT said Big West owned rights to 41 original characters/drawings in Macross
40 - Dispute over trademark registrations made in HG's name
49 - HG Rights expire March 14, 2021
57 - Awards costs of the action to HG, $848k
 

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New map type:



https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech/posts/1975495

Gen Con, Gamescom, and a trip to Red City

Hey Backers, we just wrapped up two great conventions - Gen Con in Indianapolis and Gamescom in Cologne - so we thought a small update was in order, along with a little gameplay video treat.

This year was the 50th anniversary of Gen Con, and the largest attendance in the convention’s history with over 70,000 people playing tabletop games for four days. My first Gen Con was number 6, and I have only missed a couple in the intervening 44 years, so that convention is very special to me. It was a real pleasure to bring the Backer Beta Update to Gen Con and share it with people who have been playing BattleTech for several decades, as well as people who just discovered it for the first time at the show. Gen Con is probably the only show in the world where you can play various versions of the tabletop game, climb into the Virtual World cockpits for the most immersive BattleTech experience, and top it off by battling a friend face-to-face in the BATTLETECH Backer Beta on PC. The players had a blast, and so did all of us at the booth.

I especially wanted to do a shout out to all our Mods who hosted the booth with us. These men and women work hard every day on the forums and social media, and they did a fantastic job at Gen Con, helping people learn the game and comparing strategies with players. We rarely get to see and work with the Mods in person, so it was a special treat for us at HBS.

While we were in Indianapolis, Mitch was on his way to Cologne, Germany to attend Gamescom - one of the biggest video game conventions in the world. We have been working with the Paradox team for some time, so they were properly prepared for Mitch - meaning they had the right whiskey for him to drink, and a strong metal cage to contain him. (No joke - Paradox’s press demo stations were set up inside converted shipping containers, which you can imagine with Mitch’s booming voice reverberating within.) There was only supposed to be one demo station per container, but so many members of the press wanted to see BATTLETECH that they squeezed two stations into the container - where poor Ash, our Paradox producer on the game, had to try to compete with Mitch’s voice while doing interviews.

While we didn’t do any public demo-ing at Gamescom, we did debut a brand-new biome to the press - our “Martian” biome. This is one of the non-terrestrial biomes in the game, and I think one of our most striking so far. And since press got to see it, we wanted all of you Backers to get to see it right away as well! (Gamescom was last week, but impressions were embargoed until today.) So without further ado, here’s a new gameplay video showing multiplayer on a new Martian map between Mike McCain, our Game Director, and Connor Monahan, our Encounter Designer. Their titles might give you some sense of the battle’s outcome, but I won’t spoil the suspense for you. :)

Note that this video was recorded from the development branch of our codebase, not the Backer Beta branch. Thus, some elements of combat may differ slightly between this video and what you see in the Backer Beta. (Most of the inconsistencies are UI-related.) Map and encounter design are different on the development branch to support the campaign / sim game, and thus we aren’t planning on adding this map to the Backer Beta, due to the amount of work it would require to bring it over to the Beta branch.

Lastly - thank you again for all of your feedback on the Backer Beta Update! It’s encouraging to see such positive reactions to all of the changes we made based on your survey and forum feedback. And we greatly appreciate those of you who are braving the rough waters of the Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta - your play is really helping us smooth out that experience. Expect more updates to the Double-Secret Multiplayer Beta in the coming weeks as we improve the experience. We will announce a date for the addition of multiplayer to the normal Backer Beta when we are closer to releasing it.

All the best,

Jordan
 

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
http://www.pcgamer.com/battletechs-death-from-above-is-its-most-devastating-attack-yet/

Battletech's 'Death From Above' is its most devastating attack yet
Getting to grips the mech brawler's single player Skirmish mode.

"You can't take the AI to school at this point," Harebrained Schemes' co-founder Mitch Gitelman tells me when I ask how Battletech's AI has evolved throughout its beta phase. "Now the AI takes you to school."

Two minutes later and one woefully misjudged siege sees me not only blowing my chance of taking down a hostile Panther PNT-9R, but also has me stranded and outnumbered behind enemy lines. Two minutes after that and my Shadow Hawk, piloted by my interminably reckless and renegade soldier Kraken, has its left arm torn off.

In response, I unleash a volley of close-range rockets and missiles that deal some pretty hefty damage to my aggressor's torso. But, as the setting sun envelopes the sandswept Mars-like 'Red City' battlefield in a fiery orange glow, the enemy's formidable Awesome AWS-8T mech steps in and swats me aside. I'm down and Gitelman is right: I've been schooled.

Battletech, for those uninitiated, is a 33-year-old military strategy tabletop board game that's since been treated to several videogame interpretations in the intervening period. Most of the latter have fallen under MechWarrior's canopy which, despite taking place within the overarching Battletech universe, have historically tended towards action in the face of their source material's turn-based strategy.

Battletech as we know it here pays closer deference to the original tabletop. It was successfully crowdfunded to the tune of $2,785,537 in 2015, having asked for just $250,000.

Gitelman's allusions to educating yourself by way of defeat in Battletech are important. During my brief foray into its single player Skirmish mode, I admittedly leaned on luck as much as I did considered strategy—yet there was always something to be gleaned from failure.

Perhaps I hadn't paid enough attention to my odds of landing a ranged attack, or maybe I hadn't considered pulling out wide so as to take advantage of peripheral cover. Was it the case that sprinting further into the fight would've improved my chances of maintaining line of sight—or should I have hung back and let the enemy come to me? Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and in Battletech understanding where you go wrong, and you will go wrong, is key to improving.

Despite the bout of ill-conceived misadventure outlined above, Gitelman encourages me to throw caution to the wind in Skirmish mode, as this is the safest place to crash and burn, away from the game's less-forgiving multiplayer forums. The margin for error is just as slim here, granted, however losing a pilot, or worse, a mech within the relatively consequence-less confines of single player is far preferable than falling to anonymous fighters online. Gitelman tells me that repairs and pilot reassignment cost money in the game's multiplayer, so I'm relieved to be off the hook scot-free in this instance.

During my second run, I discover that individual positions in my staggered four-slotted attack can be held back so as to leverage certain mechs back-to-back. I find this allows my lighter machine to flank and draw out heavier offenders, in turn leaving them exposed to my harder-hitters. I then charge down the central thoroughfare with flamethrowers, rockets and rail guns as I proceed to throw just about everything I have at my foes. The drawback to my most powerful offence, though, is limited ammo. It's at this point that Gitelman mentions 'Death From Above'.

As Fraser outlined in his impressions earlier this year, Battletech allows players to pit mechs against one another with their fists in close proximity—however, Death From Above lets you leap into the air before crashing down upon nearby enemies below. Beyond the overwhelming damage this causes your adversaries, watching a mech propel itself skyward by virtue of its boosters jets before executing such an overwhelming maneuver is a sight to behold.

The trade off for doing so sees you destabilised and overheated—the latter of which temporarily paralises your mech. Lingering too long in the former status is even more threatening, however, as you then run the risk of being toppled. This in turn allows enemies to "call a shot" on you, which is as devastating in practice as it sounds. Gitelman moreover stresses that Death From Above might be best suited as a last resort, given the fact it damages the internal structure of your mech's legs in the process.

With this, and from what we've seen from its backer beta, Battletech is in great shape. It's come on leaps and bounds since what Fraser reported on in May, and has seen its interface frequently tweaked and adjusted to help players understand the layout of the battlefield along the way. It's also added breathtaking attacks such as Death From Above.

Battletech is still without a hard release date, having been recently delayed into 2018. That said, I'm nevertheless confident Gitelman and his Hairbrained team know what they're doing. With new planets, new weapons, and new mechs planned down the line, fans and newcomers to the series alike have got plenty to look forward to.
 

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