Well i stand corrected. There is currently no ISO download link, sorry. And yes, coop-campaign was done and finished a while ago. Also the copyprotection will be removed you will not nee a disk or be forced to run it from a image. So, a little more patience please.
On a second note: Machcross "LAM" mechs also bear an awful resemblance to the Transformers "Jetfire" toy. Hard to figure out who stole what idea to begin with but its like trademarking "orcs". It just won't work. People should stop bitching about robo-chassis resembling each other. Just think about it: copyright a spidermech. Makes that all spider-designs your unique idea? Rubbish... yes, that toy has an awful resemblance to a Mad Cat. Most likely they copied the design. At least they changed the arms. So what? Should the entire Mechwarrior francise now be prohibited from using Mad Cats - including a Mad Cat II? Where to draw the line? Even if the design is a little modified it still can't deny its parent. Or a Catapult? Come on. Seriously.
Especially considering how serious Japan takes copyright. A country wich grew rich on copying electroics and producing clones cheap. Yes, that is irony. Its all about a little money. Technically they couldn't care less.
The news of the MekTek team dropping their support for the Vengeance/Black Knight games doesn't surprise me. While V/BK share about 80% of the game engine design with Mercs, the other 20% is a huge improvement for mercs, and going through the pain of reverse engineering that 20% for V/BK I wouldn't wish on anyone, especially given the superiority of the mercs content anyway.
If anything, what I would probably do is design a downloadable mission set that lets you play the vengeance and black knight campaign in MW4: Mercs. Co-op, online, with better UI, AI, etc.
Also, I may be wrong here but I thought MW4: Mercs came with the IS/Clan mech packs included? I installed PR1 and went straight to playing and saw clan mech pack mechs like the cougar and masakari throughout the game.
They did have a proper licence to them at the time. And later lost said licence. (it's a much more involved story if you want the details but that's the short of it)
The long and complicated story, as I understand it:
So first there were the original Japanese cartoons Macross, Crusher Joe and Dougram. BattleTech used designs from all 3, but Macross is the important one here. There were 3 Japanese companies orginally responsible for the Macross cartoon: Big West, Tatsunoko and Studio Nue. Models and toys followed afterward.
When BattleTech first came out (BattleDroids), they decided to do it with mecha from these cartoons. They got a license to use these from a toy import/export company, Twentieth Century Imports, who happily sold them one. It's not terribly clear what TCI did or didn't have the rights to at any point. I would guess that FASA approached this company because it was relatively visible in the US, compared to the original cartoons which were probably still untranslated and unsubtitled at this point.
Soon afterwards, Harmony Gold in the US contacted Tatsunoko and got the rights to the cartoons that made up Robotech, including Macross. Their license also gave them merchandising rights in the US (except for plastic model kits, I think, which was Revell).
There actually wasn't any problem for a surprisingly long time, until Playmates came out with Exo-Squad, and approached Harmony Gold to sell Robotech toys under their label. And then, in addition to Exo-Squad and Robotech toys, for some reason they decided to make a Mad Cat with no permission whatsoever.
I mean, wtf?
So FASA sued Playmates, and won. In response, Harmony Gold got involved, and they and Playmates countersued over the Macross designs, and FASA lost that one. FASA said that they felt they could successfully appeal, but couldn't afford the court costs, and decided to give up not just the Macross designs, but also the Crusher Joe and Dougram designs.
A little after that, they apparently considered further and decided to remove every single design that didn't originate completely in-house, which ended up removing quite a few designs from TRO... 3058, I think, which ended up removing almost 50 designs from the canon instead of the original unseen 26.
And now they seem to have gotten over that, so that would appear to be that.
Highly informative post, thank you. I can't help shake the feeling that someone at FASA thought they were being a genius by launching this whole scenario. And got fired in an equally hilarious and dramatic fashion after the second or third consecutive lawsuit.
"Guys, you are not going to believe this, but I got an awesome solution to that whole deadline problem! Let's just buy the rights to designs from some Japanese cartoon no one'll remember in four years!"
Synthesis on
0
Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
IceBurnerIt's cold and there are penguins.Registered Userregular
edited July 2009
I'd like to thank this topic for getting me to check on the condition of my stored Battletech Technical readouts. The boxes of books they've been in had grown horrifyingly musty. Those precious manuscripts are now safely stored in imperishable plastic, and may well outlast me. My original Mechwarrior 2 manuals and feelies are in there as well
The official IS and Clan Mech packs: Fucking lame money grabbing scheme to make people pay to unlock a few mechs already in the game code. about 4 or 5 mechs per pack. Can only be used on non-campaign game modes. Work on Vengeance and Mercenaries, AFAIK.
Which, considering I purchased them pretty much exclusively to be able to snag a Kodiak in the campaign, pissed me right the hell off.
I'd be so happy if they'd modded the single player campaign of Mercs so that all the additional chasis are available for purchase. I've never heard if this was ever something they were working on though.
And while this thread is awesome I kind of hate it. I have no idea where all my discs are but I have this huge urge to spend a few hours digging until I find them.
HappylilElf on
0
Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
edited July 2009
Honestly, I'm just gonna wait for MP4 to come out.
If only because its going to have some ridiculously extensive gameplay changes.
Honestly, I'm just gonna wait for MP4 to come out.
If only because its going to have some ridiculously extensive gameplay changes.
Same.
But why? You can have fun with MW4 Mercs NOW and then have MORE fun when the first pack is released and then have EVEN MORE fun when MP4 is released sometime in 2019.
(1) Install Mercenaries
(2) Patch to PR1
(3) Run MekPak 3.02a
(4) Run MekPak Patch 3.02b
(5) Patch with High Definition Patch
To play online be sure to run the "mekmatch" registry file that is located in your Mechwarrior Mercs install directory.
edit- The mods do a number of things, one of which is add about 30-40 new mechs, tons of new weapons, new camo options, some what better AI, and interface changes.
edit 2: In fact the MetTek team is still working on mods for MW4:Mercs. They are curretnly working on MP4 which adds a number of things including free reticle targeting. So you do not have to move your entire torso to target something.
edit 3: Hey look a video showing off the new mechs and such. MekTek
Honestly, I'm just gonna wait for MP4 to come out.
If only because its going to have some ridiculously extensive gameplay changes.
Same.
But why? You can have fun with MW4 Mercs NOW and then have MORE fun when the first pack is released and then have EVEN MORE fun when MP4 is released sometime in 2019.
I'll tide myself over with MW2: Mercs, the first game I ever bought over the Internet waaaaay back in the day.
I bloody love Battletech/Mechwarrior. I used to play Mechwarrior 3 and MW4: Vengeance like nobody's business, but for some reason, I never really got into Mercenaries, and left before MekTek started releasing their MekPaks.
But, now, man, this is so exciting! We've got essentially three 'mech games coming over the next year and a bit: Mercenaries/MP4, which is going to be free, Mechwarrior: Living Legends, which will also be free, and now Mechwarrior 3015, or whatever they are calling it.
I've been spending the last couple of days digging around the internet, trying to find out if anyone is still playing Mercenaries or if there are any leagues still active. I've found one, called Netbattletech-Hardcore. They use a slightly different modification than MekPak3, but are apparently planning on moving over to MP4 when it releases, and then most likely transfer over to Mechwarrior: Living Legends. They are a planetary based league, so there are major strategy elements to league play, and you focus on fighting over planets and conquering enemies and whatever else. Plus, all of the units that play must play as a specific faction, in-universe. It looks pretty wicked, so much so that a bunch of my buddies and I are looking to get back into the game and start a unit for league play.
If anyone is interested, shoot me a PM and we can discuss it.
As another aside, I just found out that there are those VW Battletech pods about 40 minutes from me. Kind of expensive but I hope it's worth it. Going to make the trip up there sometime soon.
So what is it that MekPak 4 adds/will add that's so amazing?
Directional Jump Jets (Jump Forward, Back, Right, Left, subsystem of Jump Jets)
C3 (Active/Inactive, can get teammate targeting data on map and radar)
Satellite Uplink (Active/Inactive, can detect non moving units)
MASC (Engaged/Idle, 33% speed boost at cost of heat and potential leg damage)
Stealth (Engaged/Idle, requires Stealth Armor on Mech, reduces signature)
Fire Control (Active/Inactive, can be widened and narowed, subsystem of Targeting Computer)
Components available in Mechlab:
Blue Shield (protects from PPC disruption)
Seismic Sensor (enabled when not moving, detects moving units)
Thermal Sensor (detects Mech heat levels)
Targeting Computer (gives lead reticle on target)
Default Components built in where applicable:
Radar Span (Wide/Narrow)
Free Reticle (can fire weapons off boresite)
Reboot Subsystems (resets systems if affected by PPC disruption)
Also have to reiterate that standard radar is affected by line of sight with terrain and buildings, but some of the above susbystems enhance the capability of the basic radar. Pretty much the case these systems can interact with and against each other on the battlefield with systems affecting and countering each other. So the ability to detect a target will vary based on the size of Mech/Battle Armor/Infantry used, the components they and their teammates have available, how they use the terrain to their advantage, and in some cases how hot they are or how fast they are moving.
+custom skins for multiplayer (so you can choose now your camo and its no longer team based)
+Battle Cobra mech
Personally i still hope for a Nightgyr and i have seen a ingame picture of an unknown mech resembling a Warhammer IIC if you ask me. Usually they keep a few trump cards for surprise.
I'd love to see more recoil on weapons, especially with people alpha striking with the larger AC's and LBX's. Possibly even throwing them to the ground or breaking arm actuators.
Truthfully, I just want an end to sniper mecks that can core you from 1000meters out. They are the reason I stopped playing on custom mech servers and went Stock Only, game was 10000000000 times better then.
Velmeran on
0
Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
edited July 2009
Isn't the Behemoth II stock configuration the one with dorsal railgun?
I'd imagine one way to do it would be to have your targeting reticle would move independently of your actual chassis. That way, should you swing it around behind you when someone I dunno sneaks up on you or hops overhead or whatever, you can blast them with the rear-mounted gun. Then if you want to actually swing yourself around you'd use some other keybind or something.
Having played more megamek, I have decided that the new mechwarrior game NEEDS CRITS AND MELEE ATTACKS.
I cannot emphasize enough how vital this is. The combination of melee attacks, and crits, is hilarious and awesome to behold in combat.
I played the tabletop for a bit with friends, and it was all worth it for the moment that the dude using nothing but long range missiles eventually killed his only enemy by leaping overhead and falling on top of them.
I'm thinking they would have to be some kind of rear mounted camera that displays on your screen as an overlay in a corner. It's like aiming as usual except on that screen left and right are reversed (as it still is causing your forward firing weapons to move as well) and that weapon doesn't fire unless you manually select the fire-group dedicated to rear mounted weapons. Alpha strikes should also not include the rear-mounted fire-group either.
I'm not so sure I like the reticle to move independent of the chassis. I mean, I can understand those mechs with guns on their arms, but seriously, how are those weapons, with barrels, that point out of the mech's chest, somehow aiming independent of chassis orientation?
Posts
On a second note: Machcross "LAM" mechs also bear an awful resemblance to the Transformers "Jetfire" toy. Hard to figure out who stole what idea to begin with but its like trademarking "orcs". It just won't work. People should stop bitching about robo-chassis resembling each other. Just think about it: copyright a spidermech. Makes that all spider-designs your unique idea? Rubbish... yes, that toy has an awful resemblance to a Mad Cat. Most likely they copied the design. At least they changed the arms. So what? Should the entire Mechwarrior francise now be prohibited from using Mad Cats - including a Mad Cat II? Where to draw the line? Even if the design is a little modified it still can't deny its parent. Or a Catapult? Come on. Seriously.
Especially considering how serious Japan takes copyright. A country wich grew rich on copying electroics and producing clones cheap. Yes, that is irony. Its all about a little money. Technically they couldn't care less.
Cougar is vanilla.
Highly informative post, thank you. I can't help shake the feeling that someone at FASA thought they were being a genius by launching this whole scenario. And got fired in an equally hilarious and dramatic fashion after the second or third consecutive lawsuit.
"Guys, you are not going to believe this, but I got an awesome solution to that whole deadline problem! Let's just buy the rights to designs from some Japanese cartoon no one'll remember in four years!"
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
Which, considering I purchased them pretty much exclusively to be able to snag a Kodiak in the campaign, pissed me right the hell off.
I'd be so happy if they'd modded the single player campaign of Mercs so that all the additional chasis are available for purchase. I've never heard if this was ever something they were working on though.
And while this thread is awesome I kind of hate it. I have no idea where all my discs are but I have this huge urge to spend a few hours digging until I find them.
If only because its going to have some ridiculously extensive gameplay changes.
Same.
But why? You can have fun with MW4 Mercs NOW and then have MORE fun when the first pack is released and then have EVEN MORE fun when MP4 is released sometime in 2019.
However, all these extra packs and patches have me confused.
Lay it down simply for me please.
I'll tide myself over with MW2: Mercs, the first game I ever bought over the Internet waaaaay back in the day.
But, now, man, this is so exciting! We've got essentially three 'mech games coming over the next year and a bit: Mercenaries/MP4, which is going to be free, Mechwarrior: Living Legends, which will also be free, and now Mechwarrior 3015, or whatever they are calling it.
I've been spending the last couple of days digging around the internet, trying to find out if anyone is still playing Mercenaries or if there are any leagues still active. I've found one, called Netbattletech-Hardcore. They use a slightly different modification than MekPak3, but are apparently planning on moving over to MP4 when it releases, and then most likely transfer over to Mechwarrior: Living Legends. They are a planetary based league, so there are major strategy elements to league play, and you focus on fighting over planets and conquering enemies and whatever else. Plus, all of the units that play must play as a specific faction, in-universe. It looks pretty wicked, so much so that a bunch of my buddies and I are looking to get back into the game and start a unit for league play.
If anyone is interested, shoot me a PM and we can discuss it.
love you.
Also, if you're using a machine with UAC, make sure you give it admin privileges.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
It takes a little finagling with admin rights to install the MekPaks but I had no real trouble with Windows 7.
However, I am currently running the 32 bit client so...
Tofu wrote: Here be Littleboots, destroyer of threads and master of drunkposting.
Directional Jump Jets (Jump Forward, Back, Right, Left, subsystem of Jump Jets)
C3 (Active/Inactive, can get teammate targeting data on map and radar)
Satellite Uplink (Active/Inactive, can detect non moving units)
MASC (Engaged/Idle, 33% speed boost at cost of heat and potential leg damage)
Stealth (Engaged/Idle, requires Stealth Armor on Mech, reduces signature)
Fire Control (Active/Inactive, can be widened and narowed, subsystem of Targeting Computer)
Components available in Mechlab:
Blue Shield (protects from PPC disruption)
Seismic Sensor (enabled when not moving, detects moving units)
Thermal Sensor (detects Mech heat levels)
Targeting Computer (gives lead reticle on target)
Default Components built in where applicable:
Radar Span (Wide/Narrow)
Free Reticle (can fire weapons off boresite)
Reboot Subsystems (resets systems if affected by PPC disruption)
Also have to reiterate that standard radar is affected by line of sight with terrain and buildings, but some of the above susbystems enhance the capability of the basic radar. Pretty much the case these systems can interact with and against each other on the battlefield with systems affecting and countering each other. So the ability to detect a target will vary based on the size of Mech/Battle Armor/Infantry used, the components they and their teammates have available, how they use the terrain to their advantage, and in some cases how hot they are or how fast they are moving.
+custom skins for multiplayer (so you can choose now your camo and its no longer team based)
+Battle Cobra mech
Personally i still hope for a Nightgyr and i have seen a ingame picture of an unknown mech resembling a Warhammer IIC if you ask me. Usually they keep a few trump cards for surprise.
I cannot emphasize enough how vital this is. The combination of melee attacks, and crits, is hilarious and awesome to behold in combat.
Truthfully, I just want an end to sniper mecks that can core you from 1000meters out. They are the reason I stopped playing on custom mech servers and went Stock Only, game was 10000000000 times better then.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
I think so.
I tried it on Instant Action and it was really powerfull.
I don't know if I like all the new MP3 mechs. too many models that don't really fit with the original ones.
I played the tabletop for a bit with friends, and it was all worth it for the moment that the dude using nothing but long range missiles eventually killed his only enemy by leaping overhead and falling on top of them.
Wing mirrors?
I am 100% with you in this.
There's a rear view button in MW4, at least. You'd just hold that, and push fire, and maybe aim with the mouse/joystick
I am with you, so long as sliding stays the fuck away