KickStarter BATTLETECH - turn-based mech combat from Harebrained Schemes

[Average Manatee]

I quite enjoyed the PvP aspect of the game for a couple of years after release. The Inner Sphere Wars fan-run campaign had a few good seasons, and the tournament play was particularly enjoyable (as long as you only entered the ones which banned custom mechs). HBS didn't really support PvP though, which was a shame as there was an enjoyable core experience.

That’s actually interesting. Where can I find more info about this?

Here's some gameplay of Inner Sphere Wars PvP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTYDsBHyEEU

One of the cool things about it was that using non-meta lances was actually beneficial as those mechs that were less popular became cheaper to buy and field, so the game balanced itself out pretty well.

Anaro was very good at the game and I was lucky enough to play against him a few times at tournaments. He has some tourney footage and other ISW games up on his channel, too

The concept is interesting but actually spending almost two and a half hours on a single 4v4 battle sounds awful. Doesn't surprise me that PvP died off, I don't see it being an enjoyable spectator thing that would lure people to the game. For once I can't blame HBS for the game's issues, it'd have to have actual support from CGL as a tie-in for those playing the tabletop game. Otherwise PvP definitely wouldn't be a moneymaker for HBS on their own.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

I quite enjoyed the PvP aspect of the game for a couple of years after release. The Inner Sphere Wars fan-run campaign had a few good seasons, and the tournament play was particularly enjoyable (as long as you only entered the ones which banned custom mechs). HBS didn't really support PvP though, which was a shame as there was an enjoyable core experience.

That’s actually interesting. Where can I find more info about this?

Here's some gameplay of Inner Sphere Wars PvP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTYDsBHyEEU

One of the cool things about it was that using non-meta lances was actually beneficial as those mechs that were less popular became cheaper to buy and field, so the game balanced itself out pretty well.

Anaro was very good at the game and I was lucky enough to play against him a few times at tournaments. He has some tourney footage and other ISW games up on his channel, too

The concept is interesting but actually spending almost two and a half hours on a single 4v4 battle sounds awful. Doesn't surprise me that PvP died off, I don't see it being an enjoyable spectator thing that would lure people to the game. For once I can't blame HBS for the game's issues, it'd have to have actual support from CGL as a tie-in for those playing the tabletop game. Otherwise PvP definitely wouldn't be a moneymaker for HBS on their own.

I played the MP for a while on release and the matches usually lasted about 30 minutes or so - dont judge what the "normal" MP gameplay is like from some "high level pro" videos like the one that was linked to. Normal people just closed in on each other in a few turns and duked it out. MP indeed was fun, but what killed it IMO was that people mostly made locked games that were agreed on somewhere on discord or w/e, so it became increasingly hard to just jump into a random game - so most people eventually stopped to bother trying.

 

[Stoned Ape]

I'd say the main reason for MP collapsing was that there was no skill ladder and so even I would smash most players in drop-in games, which must have been pretty frustrating for them.

If there had been a skill ladder (or even an icon representing a player's win rate or something) in the MP selector, then it would have been easier to find people to play around your level and organizing games in other places wouldn't have been needed.

High level play was pretty rewarding. Anaro's game was all about manipulating the turn order and only letting his opponent target what he wanted them to, he was extremely cautious but very difficult to beat (I think he beat me 4 times to 2 overall, but I enjoyed all my matches against him).

There were also extremely aggressive top players who were pretty successful as well. I even managed to win a couple of tournaments and I tended to favor playing a more open game than he did.

I think this is the only recording I managed to do for a final, but I'm not a good streamer/narrator so I don't think the quality is very good, and if memory serves my mic stops working at some point.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/309678187

 

[Jason Liang]

I think this is the only recording I managed to do for a final, but I'm not a good streamer/narrator so I don't think the quality is very good, and if memory serves my mic stops working at some point.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/309678187

All you needed was a 1 legged Jenner!

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

screw you guys, i'm redownloading all this shit.
btw, it's "just" 11 gb download. and then triple that with roguetech.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

roguetech vs extended vs advanced.
discuss.

i like roguetech but it's just way too heavy on the system. which is the one just one step lighter? i want to spend more time in mechlab than on mission.

 

[Stoned Ape]

I think that Advanced 3062 gives you the most stuff outside of Roguetech.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

but i read it's focused on future tech, while my favourite playthroughs involve getting the most scrawny and decrepit lance against the clan invasion. i like my battletech low tech, at least in the beginning.

 

[Stoned Ape]

but i read it's focused on future tech, while my favourite playthroughs involve getting the most scrawny and decrepit lance against the clan invasion. i like my battletech low tech, at least in the beginning.

You can choose from many factions at the beginning, all with different levels of tech.

https://www.bta3062.com/index.php/Faction_Starter_Lists#Theme_Starts

You can even choose to start with primitive mechs, if you want

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

thanks but too late, i'm installing (through the night) roguetech already. i hope 16gb ram more are going to please the god-devourer of resources.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

is there any need or point to buying the DLC's? I notice the MOD's like Roguetech and advanced 3062 don't seem to require them...

Do the MOD's extend the variety of weapons and chassis on their own w/o using the DLC?

 

[Stoned Ape]

is there any need or point to buying the DLC's? I notice the MOD's like Roguetech and advanced 3062 don't seem to require them...

Do the MOD's extend the variety of weapons and chassis on their own w/o using the DLC?

As far as I can remember, the only way to get the mechs that come with the DLCs is to buy them, I'm pretty sure they're left out of the mods.

However, there are an awful lot of mechs that come with the mods that aren't included with the base game + DLCs.

If you only buy one DLC, I'd go for Heavy Metal, you get a decent number of classic mechs with it.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Playing Wasteland 2, and here is the thing.

Both HBS game and Wasteland are Unity games.
Both have the equivalent of a "world" map. Both have set random maps.
Wasteland has more weapon types, weapons and inventory items. The junk items list alone is huge.
Wasteland has far larger maps and more of them.
Wasteland is a larger game.
Wasteland is a real RPG with quests and an actual story.
Wasteland has a real dialog system.

Wasteland doesn't have in-your-face wokeshit crap. Wasteland doesn't have hatred for white people. Wasteland does NOT burn computers nor take 20 years to load a game!

Fuck those incompetent shits at HBS with a shattered glass dildo. Fuck 'em!

Is Wasteland 2 actually any good?

Also, if I get it, should I play original or directors cut and why?

Also I work with Unity every day (it's my day job) and it has plenty of built in systems for content optimization. The biggest performance bottleneck for Unity is usually rendering performance, since it doesn't have the best geometry culling system. It seems in this game, everything renders fine, but their content pipeline is obviously set up horribly, and they are terribly incompetent. They are probably doing something really dumb, like unpacking the entire contents of the game into memory at runtime, bloating your memory footprint. This is not a Unity problem and has everything to do with shitty incompetent devs.

"Shitty Unity" is the "Shitty Gamebryo" of 2022. Gamebryo is a fine engine, and most of the games made with it have ended up fine. Bethesda have just always been incompetent hacks, and Bethesda fans high on copium have blamed the engine rather than the shitty company and it just sort of stuck.

Play Director's Cut. From what I understand, it got rid of most of the bugs, and rebalanced the NPCs, which were far more horrible in the original.

https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?t=17009

Play Directors Cut with this.

 

[Beowulf]

Ok, I think I'll bite the bullet and give it a try.
I doubt it will hold me enough to warrant a second playthrough, so are there any recommended mods and dlc's that you need to have to make it enjoyable and feel like the game is missing something?

 

[razvedchiki]

try the extended 3025 mod, it doesnt burden too much the engine like roguetech and advanced do.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

recommended mods

roguetech vs extended vs advanced.

in decrescent order of autism.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

bought this game on recent sale, playing the campaign right now to get used to mechanics before loading up something like Roguetech....... so far I like it better than I thought I would actually..I do notice the 'woke' stuff, but that does not trigger me or ruin a game for me like some people even if I wish it were not there..

 

[Lady Error]

So the mods just add more mechs and stuff to the existing campaign or do they have their own campaigns?

 

[Jason Liang]

So the mods just add more mechs and stuff to the existing campaign or do they have their own campaigns?

All 3 (BEX, BTA, RT) add new flashpoints and new mission types (like Duels and Duo Duels) to career mode.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Has this game ever went under $9.99?

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

So the mods just add more mechs and stuff to the existing campaign or do they have their own campaigns?

All 3 (BEX, BTA, RT) add new flashpoints and new mission types (like Duels and Duo Duels) to career mode.

just started playing, what is difference between campaign and career mode? Is career mode just a randomized 'roguelike' version of the game while the campaign has written story and characters?

 

[Trithne]

So the mods just add more mechs and stuff to the existing campaign or do they have their own campaigns?

All 3 (BEX, BTA, RT) add new flashpoints and new mission types (like Duels and Duo Duels) to career mode.

just started playing, what is difference between campaign and career mode? Is career mode just a randomized 'roguelike' version of the game while the campaign has written story and characters?

Pretty much that, although Campaign also does the random missions, which you'll do in between key story missions, and your movement is limited until you complete said storyissions and open up more systems for access.

Once you finish the story it becomes a career game anyway.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

So the mods just add more mechs and stuff to the existing campaign or do they have their own campaigns?

All 3 (BEX, BTA, RT) add new flashpoints and new mission types (like Duels and Duo Duels) to career mode.

just started playing, what is difference between campaign and career mode? Is career mode just a randomized 'roguelike' version of the game while the campaign has written story and characters?

Pretty much that, although Campaign also does the random missions, which you'll do in between key story missions, and your movement is limited until you complete said storyissions and open up more systems for access.

Once you finish the story it becomes a career game anyway.

nice, thanks

 

[Cael]

Ok, I think I'll bite the bullet and give it a try.
I doubt it will hold me enough to warrant a second playthrough, so are there any recommended mods and dlc's that you need to have to make it enjoyable and feel like the game is missing something?

Errr.... Wasteland 2 or the big stompy robot game by HomoBastardSucks?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ok, I think I'll bite the bullet and give it a try.
I doubt it will hold me enough to warrant a second playthrough, so are there any recommended mods and dlc's that you need to have to make it enjoyable and feel like the game is missing something?

Errr.... Wasteland 2 or the big stompy robot game by HomoBastardSucks?

Realms of Arkania HD