KickStarter BattleTech Pre-Release Thread

[mondblut]

Fictional pseudo-histories, better called expanded universes, are one of the great scourges of modern nerd pop-culture, and most specifically gaming both digital and cardboad.

I cannot say who it is that is being misguidedly mimicked (most likely Tolkien), but the effect is distinctly clear: Unlike the original works like Tolkien's books, or Dune, etc, what the nerddom has latched on to is the concept is the expanded universe, a severed malignant and sterile outgrowth of narrative divorced of the actual purpose of worldbuilding in storytelling. The 'lore' and 'setting' as a pseudo-history contribute *nothing* and mean *nothing*, and often do work counter to rendering works with substance. Adherence to a rigid fictional canon is fundamentally a hollowing exercise. The purpose of worldbuilding is to serve the story and what the story means. Worldbuilding as an exercise in itself serves only to rob storytelling of its function and render it to imaginary "facts." Worldbuilding must exist only within the context of individual fiction, and work towards giving that fiction substance.

Keep your shit "storytelling" faggotry away from muh lore!

Robbing storytelling of its function and exposing it as mindless droning about imaginary feelings of imaginary people is god's ordained duty.

 

[Cael]

HG are nothing more than copyright trolls, aka the lowest form of life possible. I really hope the judge grants summary judgment here because sweet Christ.

It happens.

I mentioned in another post that there is a guy here who love to do the same thing to anyone he doesn't like, up until he ran into the government, who is now pursuing him for all sorts of fraud and company management charges. Even then, he is trying to make the court case drag as long as possible with all sorts of "I don't know", "I can't find it/him", etc.

MacDonald's is doing the same thing as well, in a case involving a breach of contract with their cleaners. Drag it out so that the cleaners run out of money and the lawsuit goes away.

It is also happening in the Star Control lawsuit where Stardock is being the absolute cunt we all know he is.

 

[Cael]

a jewish vehicle destroyed by a laser that doesn't give a fuck about terrain.
so much polish this game has!

How dare you put sand in the path of muh laaayyy-zer, you homophobic, sexist, gamergate troll! RARRRGGHHH!!!! Feel the shemale rage!
- Kevin

 

[Silva]

Fictional pseudo-histories, better called expanded universes, are one of the great scourges of modern nerd pop-culture, and most specifically gaming both digital and cardboad.

I cannot say who it is that is being misguidedly mimicked (most likely Tolkien), but the effect is distinctly clear: Unlike the original works like Tolkien's books, or Dune, etc, what the nerddom has latched on to is the concept is the expanded universe, a severed malignant and sterile outgrowth of narrative divorced of the actual purpose of worldbuilding in storytelling. The 'lore' and 'setting' as a pseudo-history contribute *nothing* and mean *nothing*, and often do work counter to rendering works with substance. Adherence to a rigid fictional canon is fundamentally a hollowing exercise. The purpose of worldbuilding is to serve the story and what the story means. Worldbuilding as an exercise in itself serves only to rob storytelling of its function and render it to imaginary "facts." Worldbuilding must exist only within the context of individual fiction, and work towards giving that fiction substance.

Keep your shit "storytelling" faggotry away from muh lore!

Robbing storytelling of its function and exposing it as mindless droning about imaginary feelings of imaginary people is god's ordained duty.

This discussion reminds of the Planescape setting. I met it the first time through the Torment videogame and found it fascinating. Then I looked up the rpg books and found it... lacking. The conclusion I've come is that the videogame's brilliance is in how the devs used the setting as a vehicle to explore the stories and themes around the Nameless One. (I still find the setting kinda interesting, mostly because it's a breath of fresh air in a sea of Tokien clones, but it can't compete with it's videogame counterpart)

 

[Elex]

HG are nothing more than copyright trolls, aka the lowest form of life possible. I really hope the judge grants summary judgment here because sweet Christ.

we need a proper lawsuit rpg.

the true legal evil rpg we deserve.

 

[Elex]

Fictional pseudo-histories, better called expanded universes, are one of the great scourges of modern nerd pop-culture, and most specifically gaming both digital and cardboad.

I cannot say who it is that is being misguidedly mimicked (most likely Tolkien), but the effect is distinctly clear: Unlike the original works like Tolkien's books, or Dune, etc, what the nerddom has latched on to is the concept is the expanded universe, a severed malignant and sterile outgrowth of narrative divorced of the actual purpose of worldbuilding in storytelling. The 'lore' and 'setting' as a pseudo-history contribute *nothing* and mean *nothing*, and often do work counter to rendering works with substance. Adherence to a rigid fictional canon is fundamentally a hollowing exercise. The purpose of worldbuilding is to serve the story and what the story means. Worldbuilding as an exercise in itself serves only to rob storytelling of its function and render it to imaginary "facts." Worldbuilding must exist only within the context of individual fiction, and work towards giving that fiction substance.

Keep your shit "storytelling" faggotry away from muh lore!

Robbing storytelling of its function and exposing it as mindless droning about imaginary feelings of imaginary people is god's ordained duty.

This discussion reminds of the Planescape setting. I met it the first time through the Torment videogame and found it fascinating. Then I looked up the rpg books and found it... lacking. The conclusion I've come is that the videogame's brilliance is in how the devs used the setting as a vehicle to explore the stories and themes around the Nameless One. (I still find the setting kinda interesting, mostly because it's a breath of fresh air in a sea of Tokien clones, but it can't compete with it's videogame counterpart)

my favourite part is the multiverse aspect of the setting.

 

[Silva]

my favourite part is the multiverse aspect of the setting.

Sigil as the dimensional and ideological axis of existence is a really powerful idea, but it's depiction in the tabletop material is too tame and too bound to traditional D&D conventions. Such a multidimensional hub should never be as statical and dull, physical or politically, as depicted in the books. The videogame makes it the primordial soup molded by belief and chaos that the concept rightfully deserves. Also, DiTerlizzi art is awesome but a bit too "fairy-tale" to me. I prefer the videogame weird-macabre depiction much more.

 

[Viata]

Planescape: Torment would not be half as good as it is if the setting wasn't Planescape.

 

[Country_Gravy]

What about giant robots? Did it have giant robots?

 

[lightbane]

What about giant robots? Did it have giant robots?

Technically yes.

 

[Agesilaus]

The original PST was bad enough, but the sequel is justification for a total damnatio memoriae.


Also, has anyone seen a heavy mech other than the jail-break jager in the campaign streams? I have seen a lot of centurions, hunchbacks, wolverines, and griffins, but no heavies or assaults. I have seen some harder procedural missions, at least.

 

[Alpharius]

The original PST was bad enough, but the sequel is justification for a total damnatio memoriae.


Also, has anyone seen a heavy mech other than the jail-break jager in the campaign streams? I have seen a lot of centurions, hunchbacks, wolverines, and griffins, but no heavies or assaults. I have seen some harder procedural missions, at least.

I think i also saw enemy quickdraw once. All streamers grind easy missions for some reason.

 

[Bohr]

Saw a Thunderbolt the other day, was quite hilarious as someone was cautiously trying to leg it... then it got a fast evac from a dropship and they lost the salvage.

Seen a Quickdraw. The streamers are embargoed when it comes to going past a certain point in the story campaign so unless they grind for a while I'm not sure we'll see a huge range of the heavier mechs. Would be fun if they ran into a Catapult.

 

[Agesilaus]

I think i also saw enemy quickdraw once. All streamers grind easy missions for some reason.

Saw a Thunderbolt the other day, was quite hilarious as someone was cautiously trying to leg it... then it got a fast evac from a dropship and they lost the salvage.

Seen a Quickdraw. The streamers are embargoed when it comes to going past a certain point in the story campaign so unless they grind for a while I'm not sure we'll see a huge range of the heavier mechs. Would be fun if they ran into a Catapult.

Thanks. I just saw a Cataphract on SideStrafe's stream. He managed to sneak around the rear and core it with a direct hit to the rear torso, so perhaps he'll get some good mech salvage parts.

Looks like there's a Grasshopper, too, which is also presenting its rear torso. AI screwed up royally.

 

[Bohr]

Here is the list of the variants known to be in the game (plus there are couple of "boss"/lostech ones like the Atlas II shown in the trailer)

 

[veevoir]

Guess what happens next.

Though to be fair - HBS mentioned that they already tweaked the AI between the streamer version and release one.

 

[Silva]

Here is the list of the variants known to be in the game (plus there are couple of "boss"/lostech ones like the Atlas II shown in the trailer)

So no Raven, no ECM/ECCM/electronic warfare. Popamole crap.

 

[Agesilaus]

Guess what happens next.

Though to be fair - HBS mentioned that they already tweaked the AI between the streamer version and release one.

Yep, that's what I was watching, and it's even worse than the video shows. The mech that's down and smoking in the woods is a cataphract. It turned its back, caught a round to the centre rear torso, and immediately exploded. The grasshopper which is seen getting up proceeded to make the exact same mistake.

 

[Luka-boy]

we need a proper lawsuit rpg.

the true legal evil rpg we deserve.

It already exists. And it´s actually not bad at all for a mobile game.



Back on topic, most of the stuff I´ve seen from streamers makes me feel less than enthusiastic about this game. And with Paradox involved I wonder if HBS will make a Special Edition or whatever they'll call it down the line like usual or just release DLC and let modders do the fine-tuning.

 

[Agesilaus]

Looks like there will be plenty of difficult missions in the game. SideStrafe explored the galaxy a bit, and each planet has its own difficulty rating. The missions were probably easy because he was hanging out on an easy planet.

Also, looks like you can play the best battletech game in a browser window now:

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/battletech-the-crescent-hawk-s-inception-ev/play-ev

 

[Cael]

live feed from the hbs forums

I've lost all sympathy for these people. They deserve whatever it is they get.

Lol! The second a game developer dare say that mods will fix the problems that is being pointed out to him, I would have tossed the game into the bin labelled "Do not buy. Ever!"

 

[Cael]

Here is the list of the variants known to be in the game (plus there are couple of "boss"/lostech ones like the Atlas II shown in the trailer)

So no Raven, no ECM/ECCM/electronic warfare. Popamole crap.

To be fair to HBS, the game is set in around 3025. The Raven didn't come into existence until 3027, and wasn't in full production until much later (the first model had... technical issues...). Mind you, they have the Cataphract in there when it is something that came out in the 3055 or 3057 TRO or something like that, so it isn't much of an excuse.

That said, it looks like they fucked up the models for the Centurion and the Enforcer. Both have a AC10 in the arm (both with no hand on that arm) but both of them do not have a similar sized lower arm. And the Centurion is supposed to have a hand on the left arm, but instead looks like it has an even LARGER AC on it. And the cowboy-like Quickdraw now looks like a big-eared WoW-esque elf pansy.

And isn't the Battlemaster one of the Unseen? What is it doing in there?

 

[Bohr]

And isn't the Battlemaster one of the Unseen? What is it doing in there?

It's not one of the Macross/Harmony Gold ones, though, it's originally from "Fang of the Sun Dougram" and those were successfully reintegrated earlier incl:

Shadow Hawk - Dougram
Griffin - Soltic H8 Roundfacer
Scorpion - F35C Blizzard Gunner
Wolverine - Abitate T-10B/T-10C Blockhead
Thunderbolt - Hasty F4X Ironfoot
Goliath - Abitate F44A Crab Gunner
Battlemaster - Soltic HT-128 Bigfoot

 

[Jack Dandy]

Shameless plug for Dougram!
Go watch Dougram! It's pretty cool and the conflict feels down-to-earth!

Gets kind of repetitive, though.

 

[Cael]

And isn't the Battlemaster one of the Unseen? What is it doing in there?

It's not one of the Macross/Harmony Gold ones, though, it's originally from "Fang of the Sun Dougram" and those were successfully reintegrated earlier incl:

Shadow Hawk - Dougram
Griffin - Soltic H8 Roundfacer
Scorpion - F35C Blizzard Gunner
Wolverine - Abitate T-10B/T-10C Blockhead
Thunderbolt - Hasty F4X Ironfoot
Goliath - Abitate F44A Crab Gunner
Battlemaster - Soltic HT-128 Bigfoot

Oh, I thought HG had the whole lot. OK. That means only the Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Archer, Valkyrie, Rifleman, Warhammer, Marauder and Ost-series are affected.