BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Fri May 12, 2017 6:12 am

Just saw the latest kickstarter email.

The beta is on target for June 1st

They are partnering with Paradox for marketing and localization and they will have extra bug testers.

Teaser trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyoBwysAWVo

Recorded MP match https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt6FatH ... e=youtu.be

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri May 12, 2017 10:50 am

That is looking pretty sweet. Kind of makes me wish I'd sprung for the beta tier, but it's probably better this way. Also good news on the partnership with Paradox, although this thing pretty much markets itself.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Fri May 12, 2017 1:02 pm

NickAragua wrote:That is looking pretty sweet. Kind of makes me wish I'd sprung for the beta tier, but it's probably better this way. Also good news on the partnership with Paradox, although this thing pretty much markets itself.

I did spring for the Beta, and look forward to providing them with some testing data soon

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri May 12, 2017 11:29 pm

This wasn't on my radar until I saw these videos - this is looking much better than I expected!

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat May 13, 2017 1:04 am

The Centurian gut punch that decimated the Jenner was awesome.

Day one buy when it comes out!

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sat May 13, 2017 6:27 am

That does look cool. I wish GOG (or someone else) would get their mitts on the Infocom catalogue, because then we might see this.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat May 13, 2017 8:23 am

I remember playing that at my friend's house in the 80s and coming up with excuses to visit and play on his computer

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat May 13, 2017 10:35 am

I never got into that game, somehow. DIdn't get very far in that or the successor, Crescent Hawk's Revenger.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Sat May 13, 2017 11:40 am

Crescent Hawk's Inception was one of the few games I played as a kid that really pulled me in enough to finally beat it. Really ahead of it's time in so many ways.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Sat May 13, 2017 12:00 pm

Rip wrote:The Centurian gut punch that decimated the Jenner was awesome.

Day one buy when it comes out!

That was fun to watch. I loved the small things like the sway of the trees as missiles fly by them towards your target.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sat May 13, 2017 12:20 pm

If you missed today's PDXCON Twitch stream, the BattleTech segment starts at about 06h53m into the VOD.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun May 14, 2017 12:27 pm

Today's PDXCON BattleTech stream was a PvP match, starting at about 7h4m30s into the VOD.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Mon May 15, 2017 10:30 am

Hopefully they put those segments onto youtube at some point. Twitch is blocked at work and as much as I love Battletech, I'm not watching an hour of other people playing it during my own gaming time.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon May 15, 2017 10:43 am

Ask, and ye shall receive:

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun May 21, 2017 8:02 pm

tgb wrote:That does look cool. I wish GOG (or someone else) would get their mitts on the Infocom catalogue, because then we might see this.

Huge fan of those games.. so much so, that when I wanted my own domain in the late 90's, I chose crescenthawks as the name. Have had it ever since..
The original Mechwarrior was the sole reason I bought my first Windows PC..

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun May 21, 2017 9:00 pm

Went to go look for my old BattleDroids manual (yes, I played BT back before it was BT and before they removed the LAM's) and couldn't find it handily..,
but found these old gems...
https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/xaE ... 0HDlWEPudA

I generally avoided punching out stuff and instead had my mom make b&w copies at work that I put on cardstock with glue. I then used colored pencils to color them in...I think I still have some Car Wars ones somewhere.

anyway, not meaning to derail the thread, but figured some of you might get a kick out of it...

I did not back the KS when it came out because I did back the Mechwarrior online one and was disappointed with that, but as more and more info and videos came out I caved and went the late backer route at the Beta level, so very much looking forward to June 1st!

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Mon May 22, 2017 3:43 pm

Just pre-ordered it. Crescent Hawk's revenge was my first exposure to BattleTech. Loved it, and played the RTS Mechwarrior games. Did a little bit of Table Top (almost won a 3v1 Clan Trial free for all).
Although they weren't BattleTech games, the CyberStorm games were turn-based giant stompy mechs that scratched that particular itch.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Mon May 22, 2017 10:51 pm

If it has good SP gameplay, I'm all in.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri May 26, 2017 3:04 pm

Status update on the upcoming beta, via Kickstarter backer email:

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the kind words about our last Kickstarter Update and gameplay video - seeing your reactions and excitement means the world to us, especially when we're in the thick of things.

The whole team here is really excited to get the Backer Beta into your hands on June 1st. Unfortunately, in the last few weeks, we've been working through some significant multiplayer connectivity issues and as of yesterday, we don't believe multiplayer will be stable enough for release by June 1st. Therefore, the June 1st release will contain single-player Skirmish mode ONLY, and we will update the Beta with PvP multiplayer as soon as it's ready. No time estimate on that yet but we'll keep you posted.

We're bummed that we’re not releasing multiplayer simultaneously with single-player Skirmish (especially since we've been having so much fun competing with each other at the office, and telling you guys all about it!) but sometimes the soup just needs a little more time on the stove. As always, we’ll continue to keep you informed, and we still can't wait for you to be able to go hands-on against the AI in Skirmish mode on the 1st.

Expect another Kickstarter update next week with more specific information about how to get your Beta key. In the meantime, since we’re getting down to the wire, we thought we’d proactively answer a bunch of your questions in advance of the Backer Beta release with this FAQ.

Thanks and happy hunting!
Mitch

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:17 pm

Just got the email that the keys are on their way (though could take hours before getting mine

)

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:20 pm

Still waiting on mine, but I was a late pledge. But I am out for the next 4 hours, so no biggie..... yet...

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:33 pm

Waiting on mine, but I'm at work and not missing anything. I like that they're putting surveys at the end of each match to collect data and not just relying on anyone who feels like spewing opinions on a forum...

My only gripe is that this will put a crimp in my MechWarrior Online paid time. I wish I could pause it.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:40 pm

Can't wait to try it out. My wife and I should both be getting keys sometime today.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:52 pm

I haven't received the email yet, but checked my backerit account and it was in the digital downloads section. Installing now

Edit: And the email just arrived

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:57 pm

Moi aussi (although I did wait for the email before I checked). 1.9Gbyte download underway...

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:57 pm

Yup, just got mine.... now just to survive work...

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 4:47 pm

Just got mine. On the way home now and will install soon.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 4:57 pm

Impressions...I'm not very good

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:41 pm

IceBear wrote:Impressions...I'm not very good

ditto..

but it's only the first battle. and I may have gimped myself. took Lt Cav Vs Lt assault. made a few mistakes early on including a movement I accidentally did.
I think they may need an option to confirm orders to help with that.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:06 pm

Still hate Urbanmechs...blah

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 8:53 pm

2nd battle i did better.
took heavy support, Vs Heavy Assault.
Again, stupid tactic on my part got one of my mechs killed early.. Came back and took out all weapons on one of their mechs which caused it to just keep running away, leaving me with 3 to worry about. one of them was a Med mech and it hung back for a while, so only 2 to really worry about. Once I started damaging those, the Med came back into the fight. Basically turned into a slugging match with not much movement. I took my assault into melee range and got a lucky hit on their assault and took out the center torso.. now it's 3 on 2, but the no weapons mech ran in and meleed my catapult on the side that was already damaged, so boom... I figured it would just keep running away and that cost me, but I took it out on that turn. that made it 2 V 2 with both of the enemy mechs having a decent amount of damage, my catapult barely hanging on with just Med lasers, and my assault mech having minimal damage... I focused both mechs on one of theirs for the most part, except that my assault mechwarrior had multi targeting, so I took pot shots at the their mech with my LRM's. after the main enemy mech was on the ropes, I meleed again and took it out. (most armor was gone at that point). The last mech was nothing. ended with my assault minimal damage and my catapult limping around. Was fun!
I definitely need to pay attention to heat. That bit me a few times until I just moved everything into the water.
I like the multi target skill.
Am a little concerned that things may end up turning into just straight up stand-up fights.. Would be nice if the release allows you to have more than one lance. Especially in MP (either you have more than one lance or teams of multiple lances.)
Need to take a break, but not a bad start!

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:05 pm

From what I understand, we'll be limited to controlling one lance at a time, especially in the skirmish/multiplayer matches.

DD* · Post by DD* » Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:39 pm

Oooo, this is fun! Got my ass handed to me several times before I could figure out that you can swap mechs and pilots, and what all the skills do. At this point, I'd say melee is *very* overpowered - definitely some balance issues - but overall it is a heck of a good time. Can't wait for the finished product!

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 3:10 pm

Melee was always powerful. The main issue was if you're that close to someone it's easy to get behind them and their tender backsides. I agree that it needs some balance passes. Jenners are still awesome with their mobility. Just used a pair to take out a hunchback and Kintaro without issues. Delay until the heavies went....jump in behind and unload. Then do it again before they go next turn. Of course this was on a water map so heat wasn't an issue

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:05 pm

Won another match last night. Took an early loss, but had real nice luck after that. The AI kept their mech apart. Sent one medium mech to front front and it took out one of my mechs. Then it spotted for the other 3.
Took a lot of damage, but after I took it out, the AI started moving up. They had a fresh med mech come up and I already had decent damage on my other 2 mechs, but rook a chance and melee it. I ended up head butting it and one shot killed the pilot!
That was the turning point. After that I took out another one of his, but he had a fresh assault mech come to me. I spilt my awesome and jagger mech so that at least one always had a back shot. Then I took turns using my 3 ppc's and melee. Ended up finally taking out the mech with 1 last melee.
So far having lots of fun playing.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:42 pm

So you guys who are playing backed at Mechwarrior level or above, right?

Having backed at Recruit, I shouldn't expect beta access?

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:45 pm

I was a late pledge and backed at $50 level. I almost didn't because I don't worry too much about beta's anymore, but didn't want to be left out of this one.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:18 am

I spent my weekend blowing up Mechs in MechWarrior Online and completely forgot about this.

I'll have to kick of the DL tonight.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 7:32 am

I poked around this last night and largely enjoyed it. With only a handful of maps, Mechs, and Pilots to choose from, it's somewhat limited - but still fun. My first round out of the gate was a solid victory, ending with 2 of 4 Mechs intact. My second round was doing great, but a Hunchback-4G managed to tear apart two wounded Mechs and then I basically killed myself by breaking my own legs doing a Death From Above with my last Mech, a Catapult-C1. It was funny until it wasn't.

As someone who's never played tabletop and have only been exposed to BattleTech via MechWarrior and MechCommander, my biggest complaint is probably the baffling strength of Melee (which I've never had before) and the speed with which I overheat. The aforementioned Catapult-C1 instantly shuts down from 0 heat with an Alpha strike of 2x LRM15 and 4x Medium Lasers, and can only sustain either the LRM's or Medium Lasers each round. I guess I never realized how much they changed the rules for those things to accommodate real-time action games. It'll take some adjusting.

I don't know if it's planned or even allowed, but I would love a way to customize those Mechs.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 8:27 am

Melee appears to be a little overpowered atm, thing is it exposes you to counterattack whereas hiding in cover and getting in less damage may make it harder for the enemy to do damage against you. They have the mechanics just a little balancing needed.

As far as heat, that is a huge strategy key in being good at tabletop. The proper approach is use LRMS at long range and as indirect fire for other spotting for you and med lasers up closer conserving your lrm ammo for when it is most effective. The best mechs always have to be heavily heat managed to use effectively.