BattleTech coming back via Kickstarter

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Jun 29, 2019 1:59 am

I am rather enjoying the "Mission Control" mod, which adds quite a bit of variability in the standard contract missions. You can see extra enemy lances, friendly lances, and so on. And they may even get added to objectives (though apparently, these dynamic objectives don't contribute to your payout).

Just had a mission where I was supposed to take out 3 base buildings and the base garrison. Then the objective also reads (destroy enemy lances 1 and 2). I was going Hmmmm... as I was playing my career save and I have a medium lance (Griffin, Dervish, Blackjack, and Trebuchet). My OTHER medium mechs are undergoing some enhancements and weapon upgrades.

Any way, turns out there's a friendly lance on the ground... Armored vehicles and mechs. But we are fighting three lances (mixed vehicles and lances), PLUS turrets around the objective. It got a bit messy, with so many units on the field... and it's the urban biome. I was able to take out the base buildings at long range, and only ate about 4-5 salvoes of LRM from turrets while I took out two mechs (a medium and a light) that came after me. The friendlies managed to attract all the defender's attention, leaving me unmolested to take out the base. I took out two turrets, and noticed there are several more that I can avoid. So I did that and went to look for mobile enemies. And with a little persistence, I took out all the objectives on the contract, the two other lances (mostly vehicles though).

220 days, 7.5 million in the bank.

234 days, 10.3 mil in the bank, didn't get any heavy mechs, but it's only a matter of time. I can field two full lances of mediums now, and a collection of light mechs in storage. Just got myself a piece of Orion, showed up as the target in "heavy bait" mission.

266 days, 4.5 mil in the bank, because I bought a Crusader (65 ton mech), then emptied most of my mech stockpile. Crusader is a brawler, no shock value (2xLRM15, 2 MLAS, 2 MG), it's for taking the enemy out limb by limb, not shock and awe. Now if I can piece together an Orion...

273 days, 7 mil in the bank. Made back most of the money after taking 1.5 skull and 2 skull missions. Finally got a true "three-way battle". Was supposed to fight a Capellan lance. Then Sumire said one of the mechs has a larger engine signature than expected. I'm like, "Oh S****". I'm already in mediums, that means I'm facing a heavy. And I did find a Crusader, plus 2 light mechs. Then a pirate lander dropped a lance of light mechs that want to fight us, calling us "free loot". And both my lance and the Capellan lance turned on them. It's kinda interesting how the battle turned out. I stayed at long range as I have the weapon mix for it, and I fired at whoever seems to be the least damaged, hoping to wear both sides down. And one of the Capellan light scouts end-run the pirate lance and decided to punch at my mediums. It's pretty hilarious. My return punch next turn left it armless. In the meanwhile, the rest of Capellan lance engaged the pirate lights and slaughtered them, with me contributing. The entire pirate lance went down. One of them try to rush my mediums, but a punch left it a wreck. That left one Capellan light, and the Capellance heavy alive. I surrounded the light and punched it to death, then rushed under forest cover to fire at the heavy. It tried to dodge around a hill, but my mechs split and caught it in a pincer, and it went down.

279 days, had another surprise mission. Was supposed to attacking a pirate lance. Then a second lance showed up... Comstar? It's a joint op between Comstar and Pirates? WTF? And they have a Crusader with them? F***! I brought 1 heavy and 3 mediums. I was facing 1 heavy, 5 mediums, and 2 lights. And they hit me from all sides. Griffin got hit in the head twice, but fortunately remained intact. My Crusader had a slug fest with the other Crusader, after we got rid of all the other mechs, though those LRM salvos really hurt. Lights keep running off, but I was able to chase it off again and again. My Crusader ran out of LRMs, leaving it with just SRMs and 2 MLAS. But other medium mechs was able to join in and we eventually took down the Crusader, ending the scenario. Was even able to salvage the Crusader, giving me my 2nd heavy mech. Though I can't really use LRMs, probably put L LAS instead. ALL four mechs were heavily damaged, and one pilot is going to medbay for 33 days, but we didn't lose any mechs or pilots.

Day 292. Remind me to NEVER take another attack/defend again, no matter how good it sounds.

It was supposed to be a 1-skull mission... Martian surface, help pirates defend a base and take out the enemy base. They even have 2 mechs helping out (thanks to "mission control" mod). I sent in 1 heavy and 3 mediums. Figuring, how hard can it be as a 1 skull mission? Oh, boy. It's basically the equivalent of Zergling rush... A whole slew of light mechs basically bum-rushed me. It didn't help when my pilots started missing shots even at optimum range. Then my Centurion (w/ AC20) lost the arm with the AC (someone has AC5 and lots of LRMs) leaving it with just 2xLRM5. At this point, I was tempted to withdraw, or restart, but perhaps, just for grins, I decided to stick it out. I fired them from range, close-up, melee, chased them from behind... The attack wave was all stopped, which is when the Centurion lost the gun arm. Then the defenders rushed too. And I just can't kill them fast enough to stop the reinforcements from coming. Fortunately, being 1-skull, all the reinforcements are light mechs, except the final wave, which has a Hunchback (50-t medium). But again, can't kill them fast enough, not with my pilots keep missing shots. As for my two pirate friends? Locust bought it on the first turn when it ate an SRM salvo. The Griffin managed to survive the fight, by staying on a hill and just keep lobbing LRM and PPC salvos at whatever it can reach, but it kept overheating itself and may have died (caught in AI loop?). May have killed ONE mech. My lance killed 19 (5 waves). The fight lasted so long, I was out of LRMs and MG rounds. (My Crusader has 4 MGs sharing 1 ton of ammo, figured it'd be enough) ALL FOUR of my mechs suffered serious damage, but the keenest loss was the AC20++ (+4 acc). AND I lost 3 buildings out of 6. But I DID destroy the enemy base, wiped out all five waves, all pilots survived, no injuries, and all mechs survived. Payday was 500K with all the bonuses, and salvage wasn't bad, too bad I already have a full collection of light mechs I wanted.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:16 am

809 days remain (so that would be 391 days in?)

Have a full complement of mediums and 2 heavies, need to take tougher assignments for access to bigger mechs.

Just had my toughest 3 way battle yet... and it's a 3-skull mission. I was supposed to be chasing down two assault mechs for the Marik's when a Steiner lance showed up, and they don't care who they have to shoot to kill those two mechs. Yes, f*** me. It turned out be 100 ton (OMG, must be Atlas) and 95 ton (Stalker). The Stiner lance turned out to be mediums (Wolverine, Vindicator, Phoenix Hawk, and Ostloc). I was deployed at the bad place between the two (aassaults to my 10 o'clock, and Steiner mechs on my 2 o'clock and I can't avoid contact. Nor do I have the firepower to wipe out both sides. This got VERY messy. At first the Steiner mechs just shot at the assault mechs across the map. I sat in the forest and retreated, but I don't want to get shot in the back, so backing up is slow progress. When the Steiner mechs engaged the Stalker and doing decently, I contributed a volley, taking out a sidepod on the Stalker. But when the Steiner mechs disengaged, the assault mechs started coming after me, while the Steiner Phoenix hawk entered the forest and started firing on me from the other side of the forest. F***! I've been pincer'ed. Determining the threat, I decided to concentrate on the Steiner mechs, but only to "lure" them back toward the assault mechs. Assault Stalker just went down after a combined effort. Steiner mechs split, half came after me in the forest, the other half shot at the remaining Atlas. I ended up splitting forces myself. One Crusader (65t) and Shadowhawk (55t) went after the Atlas, while my other Crusader and Wolverine took on the Steiner mechs. Atlas took multiple long range laser fire and LRM salvos from the Steiner mech, while my Crusader managed to take an alpha strike from the Atlas, which promptly overheated. The Shadowhawk and Crusader closed and started melee. Fortunately, both are armed with MGs and plenty of ammo. And together, they managed to take down the Atlas, as the Atlas never managed to land a solid volley on either of them after that, but both were worn down badly. Both lost one side chest and one arm. But Atlas went down. In the meanwhile, my other Crusader and my Trebuchet (50t LRM boat) played laser and missile tag with the Steiner Wolverine, after having taken down the Phoenix Hawk that bugged us earlier. Eventually the Crusader managed to land a volley on the Wolverine's head, ending that fight. That left ONE volley left in the Trebuchet, and there's still the Steiner Vindicator left. Fortunately, the Atlas had just went down and the four damaged mechs managed to take down the Vindicator, configured as LRM boat, which already ran out of missiles. The four mechs fired on it from all sides, and finally cored it.

The net result is I got 1 piece of Atlas D, 1 piece of Stalker, and misc salvage (I already have a Wolverine) which is probably more than I expected out of that mission at the cost of one hurt mechwarrior, 4 badly damaged mechs.

-----

I had to remove "Mission Control" as it seems to cause the missions to stop loading at the dropship screen. The spinner just go infinite spin. This doesn't happen without Mission Control mod loaded. Too bad, I'd miss the variances.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 5:59 pm

I just got really lucky and managed to get an AC20 hit to the head on a King Crab. Best assassinate mission ever!

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:49 pm

I'm sure folks have seen /u/edmonedmon 's Youtube videos on Battletech game tactics, but this game, where he took down a lance of heavies and assault, with 4 light mechs, in ONLY FIVE TURNS, is definitely a classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjPkn18 ... e=youtu.be

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:05 am

Kasey Chang wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:49 pm I'm sure folks have seen /u/edmonedmon 's Youtube videos on Battletech game tactics, but this game, where he took down a lance of heavies and assault, with 4 light mechs, in ONLY FIVE TURNS, is definitely a classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjPkn18 ... e=youtu.be

Dude has 1000 subscribers. I hadn't seen him before;

His "tactic" is pretty simple: Take Lights that pack in as many Small weapons (MG's) and Medium Lasers and use these to core larger Mechs from behind. Rely on your speed to protect you while you move up. I've liked that one a lot, but tend to move up to bigger Mechs with Knockdown weapons in order to try and injure pilots and maximize salvage.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:24 am

Got a weird email form Paradox. I bought BattleTech on launch day

This is Tactical 'Mech Combat

Thank you for purchasing BATTLETECH. It's time to take command over your band of mercenaries and to join an intergalactic war.
So, where do I play BATTLETECH?
If you're on a PC, you can play BATTLETECH directly through Paradox own games launcher - hassle free and no third party dependencies! Or you could try Steam or GoG.

What does this mean all this time later?

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:34 am

LordMortis wrote: Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:24 amWhat does this mean all this time later?

That they let an intern near their mail system.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Jul 18, 2019 9:35 am

They think you need a reminder to play your own game?

(If you bought it off Paradox, use their own launcher. Else, use whatever client you bought it off)

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:58 am

Battle log, deployment date (redacted) on planet (redacted)

"DAAAAARIIIIIIUUUUUSSSS! You blind motherf***er! You dropped us right next to an enemy lance!", TEST9 yelled over the primary channel.

I was too busy turning my Stalker around, even as the other three mechs in my lance spun and opened fire on the enemy short lance.

I can't hear Darius' reply over the weapons firing, but the flashing status updates on the board indicated that I am facing THREE lances, not just one. Great, just great.

Undertaker's Thunderbolt got the PPC shot off first, the bolt connected with the hostile Trebuchet, as it rocked back under the hit, while laser scored and melted armor. Reaper's Trebuchet J opened fire and laser scored the hostile Vulkan, then the LRM salvo arrived, removing even more armor. TEST9's Ostloc got the laser salvo off against the hostile Dragon, but half of the shots missed. All three friendlies rushed the enemy mechs.

Then it's finally my turn, as I got the Stalker turned around, and when the crosshairs aligned on the enemy Dragon, I initiated a full alpha strike. Every laser fired, followed by a full salvo of SRMs and LRMs. And for a moment, the enemy Dragon was covered in explosions, and I can see an arm flying off, just as the enemy Vulcan jumped behind a building and disappeared from sight, leaving its lancemates to face us. I initiated a full run against the enemy, but this is an assault mech, and its speed can be best described as "leisurely".

Then the LRM barrage hit all around us. Every friendly mech took hits, and they came from well to the east. Reaper's Trebuchet was rocked by multiple salvos from the rear even as it took more hits from the hostile Dragon in front. One of the rear hits disabled a laser, but the LRM rack is still intact. Reaper fired back even as the hostile Trebuchet backed away. I ordered everyone to fire on the Dragon instead. Both I and TEST9 fired. And this salvo stripped all weapons from the Dragon.

Just as the Vulcan jumped back into the fray by jumping on a building and started shooting at us again, then another hostile mech to the east did the same. Judging by the PPC bolt I was probably facing a vindicator. I called for my lance to hug the buildings, hoping it'll absorb some of the LRM barrage, as I concentrate on wiping out the short lance. Dragon has no weapons left so it's a "mission kill", unless it wants to melee or act as spotter. Vulcan is too light to pose much of a threat, but again, it can direct LRM salvos. Primary threat is the Trebuchet, so I ordered that as the priority target. Ostloc charged in first to melee, followed by my Trebuchet, but the hostile Trebuchet ran away before my Thunderbolt can reach it.

That left me to deal with the enemies to the east. I fired a few weapons at the building one of the hostiles were standing on, dropping it, and the mech, causing a good amount of leg damage, but the weaponless Dragon decided to melee me. And this is where the armless design of Stalker is worth some cursing. Fortunately, damage to me was minimal. Thunderbolt and Stalker fired back and cored the Dragon, while Ostloc and Trebuchet managed to chase down the other Trebuchet, but it's clear my Trebuchet had taken more serious hits and I should let him rest and sit out the rest of this battle.

From there on the battle is straightforward. If enemy mech was on a building, I bring down the building (with mech on it) and this usually causes massive leg damage on the hostile mech, much easier than actually shooting at the legs. More than half of the remaining hostiles are vehicles. But my aggressive pursuit of the reinforcement lance (which was the three mechs that almost surprised us) left them confused. They never managed to coordinate their attacks and thus we were able to defeat them all.

And Darius got to wear the dunce hat at the mess for the next 24 hours.

Jaymon · Post by **Jaymon** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:12 pm

Heavy Metal drops today.

welcome to Marauder, Warhammer, and Rifleman.
I for one, am excited.

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:24 pm

Likewise, I have been waiting for this to drop so I could start playing again. This is going to be one of those permanent HD games I fire up from time to time to play a few missions here and there. I'll never play it for 20 hours in a week but I'll prolly avg. 5-10 a month for now until forever.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:42 pm

I'm pretty pumped up about this too. Probably going to wait for a) any hotfixes that HBS needs to make and b) the battletech extended 3025 mod to update, then I'll do a career run.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 6:28 pm

The free update seems to flesh out some of the weaker bits.
It's flashy, but flashy enough to distract me from my current distractions?
Maybe.

The first is free Update 1.8, which contains two beloved BattleMechs: the Warhammer and the Marauder! These classic ‘Mech chassis are equipped with unique components that reflect their place in BT lore:

WARHAMMER (70 Tons) - Its Optimized Capacitor Feeds increase the damage of all equipped Energy weapons.
MARAUDER (75 Tons) - Its Lance Command Module decreases the damage taken by it and its allies and gives a boost to Called Shots.
In addition to the two free ‘Mechs, there’s a bunch more cool additions in 1.8:

Official Mod Support - With this release of BATTLETECH, we are introducing official mod support to the game and now support the ModTek format that the modding community are currently using. We’ve also added new mod management UI to the main menu to streamline mod use. As usual, use mods at your own risk. In-game modding tools are not included.
New Maps - Two new maps bring even more variety to your contracts: Jumbled Karst (an iconic rock formation set between two valleys), and Boulder Field (rolling hills and rocks dot this battle scarred landscape)
New contracts - Over 40 new contracts, including new persistent allied and enemy NPCs, and new contract variants that mix up the gameplay you’ve seen in new and unexpected ways. Battle a dangerous solo mercenary, train a group of overly enthusiastic rookies, and serve as the personal bodyguard of an arrogant noble.
New Events - We’ve added a slew of new mercenary travel Events to “enhance” your mercenary life.
Rebalanced Stores & LosTech - We’ve completely overhauled how weapons and equipment appear in our stores. Finding items is now more straightforward. We’ve also given LosTech items a boost in power to fit their legendary status.
New Star Map Weapon Store Filters - We’ve added a new filter dropdown to the star map that lets you view planetary industry by type and a tooltip that tells you what you can find in each star system.
Mech Viewer - Get a close-up view, rotate and customize your ‘Mech paint pattern directly in the MechLab!
New Merc Company Crests - Scads of new emblems to choose from for your mercenary company, drawn from notable factions throughout the Inner Sphere. Roleplay your heart out!

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:41 pm

Full Baked in Mod support has got me more excited than the new DLC.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:39 pm

Broke down and played some vanilla tonight, cleared out a system's worth of contracts. An interesting new contract type is the "training mission", where you babysit three employer-provided mechs. It's pretty good - you're only risking one of your mechs, but still getting paid full.

Also, it may just be that I haven't played in a while, but the missile trails look different, and the graphics look a lot sharper than I'm used to. Performance is better all around, except for the contract generation interface, which chugs when you load it in for the first time on each planet. When you start up a career mode run with the new expansion, as soon as a day passes, you get a "crate that fell off the back of a dropship" with some of the new goodies. I got an ultra autocannon, a coil-x gun and a Phoenix Hawk. Haven't tried it out yet, maybe tomorrow.

At this point, I'm definitely looking forward to BTX 3025 or BTA 3062 updating for compatibility. Still don't think I can handle RogueTech right now.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:44 pm

Maybe dumb question. It's been quite a while since I played. I've started and done part of the campaign twice and I don't really want to do it again, playing the canned missions. Is there a way to play a sandbox campaign? I don't remember how that works or if it has been changed since the game first came out.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:04 am

Yeah, you want career mode for that.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:37 am

NickAragua wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:04 am Yeah, you want career mode for that.

Thanks

. I was going to pick up the Urban Warfare and Heavy Metal DLCs before I started. Am I taking on too much with those DLC right from the start of a new Career? I'm thinking since I can pick and choose missions I can build up to them gradually but still have them installed. I am cautiously excited

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:35 am

Don't feel like buying Heavy Metal yet. All but one of the mechs are in the mods already, and I'm not sure about weapons and such. Will wait for sale.

RMC · Post by **RMC** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:54 am

Kasey Chang wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:35 am Don't feel like buying Heavy Metal yet. All but one of the mechs are in the mods already, and I'm not sure about weapons and such. Will wait for sale.

I must have picked up the Season Pass on one of the sales, becasue lo and behold I own it.

I am not sure I am a big fan of the Flashpoint missions, and I like having a story instead of career mode. So not sure I want to start the same campaign over. I am hoping for one more large DLC of a new Campaign, so we can have either a new story, or a prequal or something.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:04 am

RMC wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 10:54 am I am not sure I am a big fan of the Flashpoint missions, and I like having a story instead of career mode. So not sure I want to start the same campaign over. I am hoping for one more large DLC of a new Campaign, so we can have either a new story, or a prequal or something.

from the description, it'll be a multi-mission flashpoint

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:36 am

jztemple2 wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 1:37 am
NickAragua wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:04 am Yeah, you want career mode for that.
Thanks . I was going to pick up the Urban Warfare and Heavy Metal DLCs before I started. Am I taking on too much with those DLC right from the start of a new Career? I'm thinking since I can pick and choose missions I can build up to them gradually but still have them installed. I am cautiously excited

Don't worry about picking up the DLCs, they integrate very smoothly into career mode. For the most part, they're "just" more mechs and flashpoints.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Nov 22, 2019 11:45 pm

Thanks to everyone for the inputs on the DLCs. I think I'll be picking them up soon.

I came across this article on the Paradox BT forum that folks might find of interest, HBS Dev Diary #14: The Nuts & Bolts of Heavy Metal (Part 1)

Hey folks! I’m Ryan Burrell, Lead Designer of BATTLETECH: Heavy Metal and I’m here to provide insight on the overall design goals of this expansion and update. I’ll talk a bit about the process, reasoning, and path from initial concept to where we are today. There’s a lot to share. Surprise! Making a game — even “just” an expansion — is a LOT of work. So: buckle up, MechWarriors!

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:28 pm

And here is the link to the second part, The Nuts & Bolts of Heavy Metal, Part Two: Design & Deployment

Greetings, MechWarriors! Ryan Burrell, Lead Designer of BATTLETECH: Heavy Metal here again. Today I’m going to write about the thinking behind individual components of Heavy Metal, so prepare to really get your nerd on. If you’ve watched any of our live streams you’ll have heard some of this before, but there may be extra tidbits of interest!

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Sun Nov 24, 2019 11:06 pm

I've got my install locked in at 1.73 and am trying to use Extended 3025 (by itself) but the game seems completely broken. I'm using a 1.7x compatible Modtek, and the 1.7x version of CAB and 3025 that I could find.

When the game runs, I get a message saying the NavigationComputer and BT_Extended_Quirks mods couldn't load, which is whatever. I pulled them out. It still shows Modtek running in the version number.

I'm able to get as far as combat when I discover that my Mechs can't move normally.

My move cursor locks up when it goes past "level" with the Mech during turn-based combat. This means I can move left, right, and backwards - but not forward towards the hostiles. Jump Jets aren't even showing where I'm targeting and the one time I did jump, I went backwards from where I selected and faced the wrong way.

I'm guessing there's a problem, but it's not something I care to troubleshoot. I'm just going to rip the mods out and play the vanilla game. It's a shame. I liked 3025 the last time I played.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sun Nov 24, 2019 11:22 pm

I wouldn't expect to see any more updates to modtek or any mods to make them compatible with 1.7.2 - now that 1.8 is out with it's "built-in" mod support, pretty much all modders are working on making their mods compatible with it. Some mods work, some don't, I don't think any of the modpacks work currently. I expect it will take some time for people to get things working, so I'm holding off on starting a meaningful career run-through.

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Mon Nov 25, 2019 12:12 pm

I couldn't wait and started a new Career to play this weekend. First "vanilla" run in awhile and I loved it. They have really fleshed the game out with all the additions. I am looking forward to the modding scene but with Mechwarrior 5 coming out in a month I didn't want to wait and hit potential Mech burnout....as if

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:04 pm

I reinstalled the game and I've run into a problem I remember having before. I skip the tutorial (clicking the option in setup), but then the first mission turns out to be endless. This is the Majesty Metals mission where you're supporting the miners...

Spoiler:

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 8:36 am

That might be a bug that's been around for a while. I vaguely recall starting a new campaign once, no mods, and running into the exact same thing. I'm pretty sure it was because I was getting too far ahead of myself and had planned for this or that, breaking the game's routine for newbies.

I can't find a relevant post for it, though.

There is a way to force a mission victory, though, after enabling the debug command options (it involves closing the game, editing an XML file, running the game, pressing "~" and then using the right command). I had to do this in my Career mode game a few days back when I got locked up in an escort mission and one of the vehicles I was escorting went off-path and never moved again (footnote: this happens when their pathing tries to route them through one of your Mechs and then it never recovers. Never stop your Mechs on or next to the road to avoid this).

*Edit: To enable debug mode:

Save & close Battletech. Consider making a backup of the save for that session.
Locate settings.json in your BattleTech\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\debug folder
Make a backup copy of this file.
Right-click and Edit this file with Notepad.
Add the following syntax, exactly as shown, including the quotes and comma at the end, right before the line for "loggerLevels"
"testToolsEnabled": "true",
Save and close the file.
Run Battletech, load your save in that mission, and press the tilde key
A menu should come up, including an option to force a win condition

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:19 pm

Thanks! I'll try that.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 7:14 pm

Huh. I couldn't make that method work. I'll try again.

I did discover, though, that doing the objectives in order (and I think think this especially means killing the 'Hawk before you blow up the corporate com building) triggers the conditions for the appropriate narrative.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:20 am

Holman wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2019 7:14 pmHuh. I couldn't make that method work. I'll try again.

What I quoted my post from was not the same one I had used successfully to edit my settings.json file, but it looked similar and figured it would work.

Holman wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2019 7:14 pmI did discover, though, that doing the objectives in order (and I think think this especially means killing the 'Hawk before you blow up the corporate com building) triggers the conditions for the appropriate narrative.

That was it exactly. You can break that first mission by doing things out of order. If you've done it once, it's easy to get ahead of yourself and end up missing a trigger you need to continue.

This bug, plus the convoy obstruction bug, are the only real "mission killing" bugs I've found in the game. As long as you do the tutorial mission in the campaign in the order it tells you, and never stand on the road tiles convoys use when you escort them, you shouldn't need to edit the settings.json file to enable debug mode to force mission victories.

On a side note: My career mode is going well. 630 days left until I "score" and my teams are pretty damned solid. The only adjustment I made is to require 4 mech sections for salvage. I'd probably have a few bigger, heavier Mechs right now if I didn't have that on. It's amazing how needing to find that last section (you only ever find 3 from a perfect kill) means waiting a very long time. I never see a new Mech and get to capture it.

The A team:
Cyclops Z, 90t. LBX-5++, TAG++, LRM10+++, 2xML's. Reduces all initiative for the team by 1.
Marauder 3R, 75t. AC5+++, PPC++, UAC2++. Double called shot bonus, beautiful for headshots. I need to reconfigure for more UAC's.
Catapult K2, 65t. 2x PPC++, 4x MG's, 3x double heat sinks (only ones I have found so far and had money to buy).
Shadowhawk 2D, 55t. The scout, AC5++, LRM10+++, ML

The B team:
2x Centurions with LRM20+++ and LRM15+++
1x Centurion with LBX-5++ and Snub PPC++
Shadowhawk 2D, 55t. The scout, AC5++, LRM10+++, ML

Every mech has max jump jet capacity and 50%+ heat venting. Mobility is life.

I focus a lot on either spreading damage out to knock things down for higher salvage changes or straight up murdering them. I've gotten to a point with 3.5+ skull missions where farting around knocking things down is getting me beaten up pretty badly and I'm considering redistributing for more murder instead, scooping up a lot of UAC's and equipping them. Last night I found myself in a 3.5 skull mission to destroy a base that pitted my A-Team (with a 70t 4xSRM6+++ Archer swapped in where the Cyclops usually is) against 1 light, 6 mediums, 2 heavies, and 4 turrets. I limped out of there with exactly zero ammo and only two sections of armor that had been breached across all my Mechs.

The 4x SRM6 Archer is a naughty jumper who has enough heat sinks that he can max-jump each turn and unload all 4 SRM6's into something's back or face without breaking a sweat, turn after turn...

After mixing it up with a number of pilot builds, I've decided I prefer two types.

Spots 1, 2, and 3: Multi-Target, Breaching Shot, Bulwark
Scout: Sensor Lock, Bulwark, Master Tactician (+1 Init)

As I get into dealing with heavier-hitters, the damage reduction from Bulwark becomes more essential while multi-target/breaching shots with a few big guns means spreading around some serious and unavoidable pain. I think the game lets you respec every pilot just once; I need to find that option and rebuild my team now that they're all 8-10 for skills across the board. Every single one of them has Called Shot Mastery now.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 11:11 am

With "Battletech Extended 3025-3057: Commander Edition" (that's a mouthful) now out for 1.8 and heavy metal, I dove into a career playthrough, running around the inner sphere doing contracts.

Currently, two star systems' worth of contracts in, I've got a Shadow Hawk 2K that Yang pieced together from bits of Shadow Hawk 2H and 2K, a Phoenix Hawk that "fell off the back of a dropship" (I took the start-game heavy metal crate), a Firestarter (no flamers, TAG and extra armor instead) and a Valkyrie (customized to have a medium coil gun instead of the usual medium laser + LRM/10).

I'm hoping to crank out at least a pair of 55-ton mediums, and then I'll try to hit the "Unwelcome Guests" flashpoint, which is hovering just a few jumps away, and hopefully won't time out before I get some bigger hardware.

I'm also using the Mission Control mod, which, among other things: randomizes spawn points, sometimes spawns an allied lance to help, sometimes spawns up to two enemy lances to help, expands the playable map area. Only thing I wish they'd do is port that multi-lance drop functionality over from RogueTech: I'm not really digging all the mechanical changes RogueTech made, but I do want to drop 8 mechs into a mission.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 1:14 pm

NickAragua wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2019 11:11 amI'll try to hit the "Unwelcome Guests" flashpoint, which is hovering just a few jumps away, and hopefully won't time out before I get some bigger hardware.

Not knowing how these worked or what would happen, I've largely ignored them. Didn't even know they could time out. I assumed they were either permanent until completed or came and went, only to come back again later.

I'll have to poke around the map and find one to try, if I haven't forced them all to expire now.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 1:28 pm

Not to worry, they eventually cycle back in.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 3:20 pm

NickAragua wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2019 1:28 pm Not to worry, they eventually cycle back in.

Good to know. I haven't researched what they involve, at all, except to glean that they maybe mean I have my units in a prolonged engagement-after-engagement. Don't even know what they're reward. I suppose I should totter over to the Wiki and read up on it. I paid for it, after all.

*Edit: Okay, well, tottering there complete. There's just no info in that wiki. I'll poke elsewhere. Ah. There. That's better.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 5:57 pm

NickAragua wrote: Tue Dec 10, 2019 11:11 am With "Battletech Extended 3025-3057: Commander Edition" (that's a mouthful) now out for 1.8 and heavy metal, I dove into a career playthrough, running around the inner sphere doing contracts.

...

I'm also using the Mission Control mod,

Sorry if this is reductive, but what mods are you playing with? Just the two you listed? What do you recommend these days?

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 6:18 pm

Just those two for now. But Battletech Extended 3025-3057 (Commander Edition) is a compilation of very many smaller individual mods. Among those, off the top of my head:
- full inner sphere map with dynamic territorial changes
- huge number of new vehicles and mechs not included in base game or DLC (basically, models imported from mechwarrior online)
- improved (?) AI
- mech quirks (little bonuses/penalties based on mech quirks from the tabletop games)
- mechwarrior traits (those pilot tags actually give in-game bonuses/penalties)
- fatigue system (encourages you to cycle mechwarriors around rather than use the same four guys)
- panic system (if a mech is getting really shot up the mechwarrior might eject instead of fighting to the death)
- jump jet restrictions (can't mount jump jets on mechs that don't have them in tabletop)

I definitely recommend it, as it fills a lot of gaps that become fairly noticeable in the vanilla game. Installation is a little wonky, you have to go to the nexusmods page and read the author's stickied forum post for the install instructions.

Mission Control more or less just makes the fights bigger (and now on bigger maps).

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:20 pm

Don't know if people still care, but here are the BATTLETECH 1.9 Update Release Notes

UPDATE: Also, the game is on sale on Steam for 66% off for the next couple of days. DLC are also on sale and there are deals on bundles and collections.

Thank you for playing BATTLETECH! Release 1.9 is now available on Steam, GOG, Humble, and Paradox Plaza. The main areas of improvement are: ‘Mech and vehicle variants, gameplay options, Convoy AI, and mod support.

Release 1.9 Notes, 2/20/2020

‘Mech Variants
• Trebuchet TBT-7K
• Grand Dragon DRG-1G
• Warhammer WHM-7A
• Marauder MAD-2R
• Marauder MAD-3D
• Zeus ZEU-5T
• Zeus ZEU-6T
• BattleMaster BLR-1GB
• BattleMaster BLR-1S
• Crab CRB-27b
• Cyclops CP-10-HQ
• Javelin JVN-10A
• Raven RVN-3X
• Cataphract CTF-0X
• Phoenix Hawk PXH-1b
• Rifleman RFL-4D

Vehicle Variants
• Striker Narc
• Scorpion Mk.II
• Schrek Snub PPC Carrier
• Galleon TAG
• Demolisher LBX
• Inferno Carrier
• Arvakr APC
• Alsvin APC

Gameplay Options
• Added a Career Mode Difficulty Setting that allows players to reduce Argo upgrade costs
• Added a Settings option that allows players to speed up the real-world time it takes for an in-game day to pass
• Added a Settings option to assist those with color blindness allowing them to select alternate LOS lines and indirect fire colors

Mod Support
• The mod installation folder is now configurable
• The ModLoader is now patchable
• Added more Dynamic Enumerations
• Added more logging and error reporting
• DLC checks have been added to ModDef
• The ModLoader is now easier to use
• Fixed many other mod support related bugs
• Added several mod support quality of life improvements

Convoy AI
• Fixed some long-range and short-range pathfinding issues
• Escort vehicles can now move through the player’s ‘Mechs and each other
• Killing the entire OpFor now auto-completes escort missions

Other
• A new ammo tab is now in stores and the ‘Mech Bay
• Half-ton machine gun ammo is now available
• +/++ variants of machine guns are now available
• Fixed an issue that prevented some players from being able to delete their GOG saves=

Known Issues (to be fixed asap)
• The debug console, build number widget, and combat debug options cannot be evoked when using their corresponding shortcut combinations
• Under certain circumstances the game does not exit cleanly after saving

Roll Back

It is possible to revert to past versions of our game in case you have trouble. For more platform specific information go to our forums at: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...r ... n.1112335/

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:57 pm

Once the mod guys catch up, I'll be resuming my battletech extended career run.

I'd gotten into pretty good shape - bagged a Marauder from a flashpoint, and had a full lineup of "light" medium mechs (Phoenix Hawks, Vulcan) otherwise. Some of these new tanks are a little bit crazy and lore-breaking, but I'm sure the mod guys will fix that up in a jiffy.