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[BATTLETECH/MechWarrior] Old thread, like the carcass of a cored-out Locust.
Nips
He/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
He/HimLuxuriating in existential crisis.Registered User regular
Welcome to the combined BATTLETECH/MechWarrior superthread! It is here that we appreciate only the finest in stompy bot action.
"In the brutal conflict of the Succession Wars, the only thing that matters is getting paid."
BATTLETECH (www.battletechgame.com) is a new entry into the long line of BattleTech and MechWarrior products. Bringing the PC game line back to its roots, BATTLETECH is a tactical and strategic simulator, where your decisions on the battlefield and on the dropship will determine if your mercenary unit makes out like bandits, or dies bleeding out on some backwater planet.
https://youtu.be/RyoBwysAWVo
In BATTLETECH you command a mercenary unit embarked upon the Argo, a lost-to-the-ages Jumpship design. Outfit with all of the essentials required to run a mercenary unit, you chart the course for the Argo across the Aurigan Reach, right between the Magistracy of Canopus, the Capellan Confederation and the Taurian Concordat.
Using a full roster of 'Mechs, pilots, and equipment, you will command your units across a vast number of star systems and planets, making bank and taking names, to achieve glory and notoriety beyond the Reach.
'Mechs Confirmed for the launch product:
The game was originally Kickstarted in 2016., and is being published by Paradox Interactive (yes, those fine gents!). The game launched on April 24, 2018! It's out now!
"In the brutal conflict of the Succession Wars, the only thing that matters is getting paid."
BATTLETECH (www.battletechgame.com) is a new entry into the long line of BattleTech and MechWarrior products. Bringing the PC game line back to its roots, BATTLETECH is a tactical and strategic simulator, where your decisions on the battlefield and on the dropship will determine if your mercenary unit makes out like bandits, or dies bleeding out on some backwater planet.
https://youtu.be/RyoBwysAWVoIn BATTLETECH you command a mercenary unit embarked upon the Argo, a lost-to-the-ages Jumpship design. Outfit with all of the essentials required to run a mercenary unit, you chart the course for the Argo across the Aurigan Reach, right between the Magistracy of Canopus, the Capellan Confederation and the Taurian Concordat.
Using a full roster of 'Mechs, pilots, and equipment, you will command your units across a vast number of star systems and planets, making bank and taking names, to achieve glory and notoriety beyond the Reach.
'Mechs Confirmed for the launch product:
Light:
Locust
Commando
Spider
Firestarter
Jenner
Panther
UrbanMech
Raven
Medium:
Cicada
Blackjack
Vindicator
Centurion
Enforcer
Hunchback
Trebuchet
Griffin
Kintaro
Shadowhawk
Wolverine
Heavy:
Dragon
Quickdraw
Catapult
JagerMech
Thunderbolt
Grasshopper
Orion
Marauder
Warhammer
Cataphract
Assault:
Awesome
Victor
Zeus
Battlemaster
Stalker
Highlander
Banshee
King Crab
Atlas
Locust
Commando
Spider
Firestarter
Jenner
Panther
UrbanMech
Raven
Medium:
Cicada
Blackjack
Vindicator
Centurion
Enforcer
Hunchback
Trebuchet
Griffin
Kintaro
Shadowhawk
Wolverine
Heavy:
Dragon
Quickdraw
Catapult
JagerMech
Thunderbolt
Grasshopper
Orion
Marauder
Warhammer
Cataphract
Assault:
Awesome
Victor
Zeus
Battlemaster
Stalker
Highlander
Banshee
King Crab
Atlas
The game was originally Kickstarted in 2016., and is being published by Paradox Interactive (yes, those fine gents!). The game launched on April 24, 2018! It's out now!
FOR THOSE OF YOU JOINING US FROM THE TABLETOP BATTLETECH GAME, HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND!!!
Mostly it's invisible stuff. To-hit rolls and location rolls are calculated differently. Missiles roll for hits and damage individually instead of in tranches of five. Some weapon ranges and damage/heat values have been tweaked (generally with the idea of bringing in the statistical extremes closer to the middle), and since the game uses different numeric scales than the tabletop, there would be no way to know this sort of thing unless you sat there actually mathing it out, or literally counting pixels on the landscape to figure out that the AC/5 is going ten meters further or something.
The most visible actual change is the initiative system. It has five phases, counting down from 5 to 1. Lights go on phase 4, mediums on phase 3, and so forth. Some characters will have skills letting them act one phase sooner than normal (so the rarely-used phase 5 is for pilots with that ability in light mechs). Mechs can reserve their initiative to act in a later phase, so lights can do stuff like reserve till phase 1, dart out from cover, attack, and then immediately go again at the top of the next round to dart back into cover before anyone can retaliate.
Pilots have four skills - Gunnery, Pilots, Tactics, and Guts - which confer different passive bonuses - gunnery and piloting are obvious; guts increases survivability as well as brawny stuff like reducing recoil penalties from AC shots, and tactics covers indirect fireand doing tricks with the initiative system. Each skill also grants two special active abilities (one at rank 4 in a skill, the other at rank 8). Pilots only have three skill slots, though, so even a veteran pilot with max ranks in all abilities will only ever have three active powers (the first three they qualified for), leading to a lot of different possible specializations.
Heat doesn't degrade performance; instead, when it's over a certain point (like 75%, but varies depending on pilot skills) it deals direct damage to internal structure.
Mechs have a stability meter, whose length is affected by the pilot's Guts score. Different weapon attacks suffered by the mech fill the meter to different degrees (AC20 or melee fills it a lot, lasers not at all). When it's halfway filled, the mech can no longer benefit from certain kinds of defense and movement bonuses. When it's full, the mech falls over.
Falling over or being shut down from heat are what let enemy pilots make called shots to specific areas. A called shot doesn't guarantee a hit to that area, but weights the shot distribution.
Mechs have three main kinds of defense: evasion, cover, and guarded stance.
Evasion is usually granted by moving quickly, or using jump jets. It gives your mech a number (1-5) of little evasion chevrons depending on how much they moved. Each chevron imposes a stacking penalty on incoming fire. A Locust at full sprint is almost impossible to hit. However, each salvo fired at the mech strips away an evasion chevron, so that Locust is vulnerable if several enemies focus it down. Being hit in melee also immediately removes all chevrons.
Cover gives a flat damage reduction, usually something like 25%.
Guarded stance is an state a Mech can attain by taking the Brace action in lieu of attacking, or is granted by certain powers or in certain circumstances. It reduces damage and stability damage from incoming fire by 50%, but only on the front and sides. Bracing also completely drains the Stability bar, so the mech is in less danger of being knocked down.
In the Mechlab, Mechs use a hardpoint system similar to but different from MWO. Along with ballistic, missile, and laser weapon types, there's a fourth hardpoint type, called "support weapons," which covers machine guns, flamers, and small lasers. Support weapons fire automatically when you make a melee attack.
Weapons have different manufacturers with different bonuses (it's always a straight bonus, though, rather than some kind of tradeoff). Some weapons are of exceptional quality and are denoted as + or ++ weapons (so like an LRM20++). These pluses can mean different things based on the manufacturer but they're always significant bonuses.
Looking for some further background fiction? Look no further than these recommendations!
SiliconStew wrote: »
There's over a hundred books in the Battletech universe, so you're going to get a lot of opinions. Here's some decent ones, with the Grey Death Legion trilogy and Wolves on the Border probably my top picks from these. This list is in rough chronological order for their events in the Battletech universe as well.
Decision at Thunder Rift - Keith - Grey Death Legion #1
Mercenary’s Star - Keith - Grey Death Legion #2
The Price of Glory - Keith - Grey Death Legion #3
Warrior: En Guarde - Stackpole - Warrior Trilogy #1
Warrior: Riposte - Stackpole - Warrior Trilogy #2
Warrior: Coupe - Stackpole - Warrior Trilogy #3
Wolves on the Border - Charrette
Heir to the Dragon - Charrette
Lethal Heritage - Stackpole - Kerensky Trilogy #1
Blood Legacy - Stackpole - Kerensky Trilogy #2
Lost Destiny - Stackpole - Kerensky Trilogy #3
Nips on
+5
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
See the most amazing announcement in Oosik Irregulars history here, by the lead developer of CGL! The Oosiks are canon!
Reactor...online. Sensors...online. Weapons...online. All systems nominal.
Greetings potential pilot, and welcome to the Mark 4.2 Mechwarrior Online OP, now with 200% more WubWub and 5000% more hyphens and commas!
It has been reorganized, and in some spots rewritten, to provide more relevant and concise information for our growing roster of pilots.
If you have anything you would like to see added to the OP, or notice any errors, please contact @Nips and I'll do my best to update the post.
Remember pilots, this is Battletech. Around these parts, common sense is Lostech.
What is Mechwarrior Online?
Mechwarrior Online is a free-to-play, PC-based, online shooter produced by Piranha Games Interactive. MWO places you in the command seat of a heavily armed and armored walking battle machine that you pilot in team-based matches against other Mechwarriors. Your mech is very customizable and able to field a huge assortment of energy, ballistic, and missile weapons along with an array of modules and other utility items. At the end of each match you earn C-Bills, the in-game currency used to buy more items and mechs, and experience that is used to enhance the piloting abilities of your war machines. Between matches, you can customize your mech with a variety of engines, weapons, subsystem modules, and chassis enhancements until you have your chosen chassis tailored to your liking.
There are currently six game modes:
- In Skirmish, your team is pitted directly against the enemy team in a battle to the death! The team with the last mech standing wins.
- In Assault, you and your team attempt to capture the enemy team's base without losing your own, or eliminate the enemy team.
- For Incursion, which is similar to Assault, each team controls a base with fixed and destructible defenses (turrets, walls, etc.). Three command vehicles in each team's base must be destroyed for total victory.
- Conquest is a traditional domination mode where you and your team are attempting to control resource nodes that generate victory points. The first team to reach 750 victory points, or that eliminates the opposing force, wins.
- Domination focuses on controlling a central zone on a map, with tertiary objectives to destroy. If a team is uncontested in the zone, their timer decrements until victory; destroying the tertiary objectives adds time back to the timer.
- Escort pits one team as the Defenders, escorting a (hilariously over-armored) VIP Atlas across the map. Meanwhile, the opposing Attackers attempt to destroy the VIP.
Also, Faction Play pits player-based Mercenary Corps and PGI operated Houses against each other for control of entire planets and territory throughout the Inner Sphere; see the following post for more information!Sounds good, where do I start?
1.) Download the client at http://www.mwomercs.com, or download it from Steam and install it.
2.) Once logged into the game, go through the Training Academy tutorials. This game has a bit of a learning curve to it and while it's not super-steep, it's definitely not just a jump-in-and-click-things-until-you-win sort of game. Be sure to watch the Weapon Grouping video as it'll do the most to help keep you alive. Chain fire is your friend, learn to use it.
2a.) Penny Arcade also did some Pilot Safety Posters and while they're humorous, they do have some good information in them.
3.) When you start the game you will have access to a number of trial mechs that rotate out for new mechs every month or so. These are non-customizable mechs, designed by PGI and the community for ease-of-entry into learning the game (except for the Stalker; that thing's a newbie death trap). Select a mech, and use the in-game Tutorial and Training Grounds to get a feel for how the game controls. Move around. Shoot your guns. Try overheating, then remember that overheating is bad.
4.) Jump into real matches! After each match you will earn some C-Bills, Mech XP, and General XP. C-Bills are the in-game currency used to buy everything except cosmetic items. At the end of each of your first twenty-five matches, you'll earn a Cadet C-bill bonus that you can save up to purchase your first mech. You'll also earn Mech XP, which is specific to the mech you earned it on and is used to buy piloting enhancements like faster torso rotation or better heat mitigation. You'll also also earn General XP that can be used on any mech, and can also be used to unlock modules and module improvements.
5.) Mech Credits (MC) are the in-game currency that you purchase with real money in order to shortcut your way to a new mechs and equipment. MC is also used to purchase premium account status and cosmetic items for your mech like new paint jobs, and items to put in your cockpit like bobblehead dolls.
6.) Need more advice? There's a solid Reddit thread here for new or returning players.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheOosiks
Our anthem.
We play on the Penny Arcade Ventrilo server; it's dangerous to go alone, so be sure to take this!
http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php
Host: vent15.gameservers.com
Port: 4384
Password: Ask one of the thread regulars!
Our man @Gnome-Interruptus has also set us up with a MWO/BT specific Discord channel, for those so inclined:
https://discord.gg/dpbeXd2
Thanks Gnome!
Interested in other Voice Comms/Team-Up Opportunities? Check the next post about Community Warfare!
The Origins of the Oosik Irregulars
Who are the Oosik Irregulars?
We are a very loosely organized (and by loosely we mean not at all) mercenary corp that is open to anyone who wants to join. The Penny Arcade community frequently makes loose groups for new games just to make it easier to find people to play with, and while this started out as just another one of those it has grown into so much more. We formed under the banner of The Oosik Irregulars as a way to honor the great forumer @A Flock Of Walrus who brought us closed beta footage at the expense of his access to the game, and have since become a tightly-knit group of very active players.
We don't care about player skill levels or general MWO experience. Our primary goal is to have fun and help each other out, including brand new players. If this is your first time launching the game we'll happily drop alongside you. We have a lot of experienced community members more than willing to help you out and I can't think of a single person that would refuse to let you roll in a lance with them. If you're an experienced pilot already then you'll also find players looking to push themselves as hard as possible in this game, and who are constantly working to improve their game. There is something for everyone in the Oosiks Irregulars!
How do I join the Oosik Irregulars?
The good news is you already have! There is no application, no interview, no skill level check, or anything else involved. Just show up, start playing, and don't be shy in the thread. We mostly don't bite.
Do you guys stream matches at all?
Several fine gentlemen in the Oosiks have thrown a stream party or two. Keep your eyes and ears on the thread! You just never know when.
Where can I get a sig from!?
PM @Nips, @TOGSolid, or @Kashaar
What's this I hear about Oosik swag? I'm an Oosik now, and I'm woefully swag-free.
Check out @Nips sig! He likes giving away freebies to underserved, swag-less Oosiks. Be sure to send him a PM, or he might not see your request!
What the hell is a Targeting Computer? Or a Command Console? Why should I care?
You generally shouldn't care, but if you're interested (and not in-game, when you're doing your theorycrafting, follow this link to an image that details what these pieces of equipment do!
Command Console and Target Computer Stats
1.) Flanking is god.
If there is a primary battle line and you're not in a mech that needs to be holding that line then circle around and pounce the stragglers/high value targets like LRM boats. Jumping the LRM boats is an especially game-changing thing to do because once those LRMs stop flying PUG players get really emboldened and ballsy. Even if you die you will still be the big god-damn hero. Learning the maps is a huge part of this; use the terrain to your advantage to successfully jump and annihilate packs of targets.
2.) Learn your range bands and proper positioning.
If you are a brawler then that doesn't necessarily mean you need to get in ASAP. Allow the fight to evolve a bit and wait for targets of opportunity. Go off to the sides and see if you have open lines to approach on to catch your enemies unaware. Conversely, if you are sniper and can still freely shoot things then why move in if you don't have to? Obviously, if you need to reposition to take advantage of the changing battle lines then do so but moving in just to move in? Nah, don't do this. This also kinda applies to brawlers since this is how you end up with a giant clusterfuck of people all at 10 meters trying to get hits in.
3.) Learn your mech.
Trying to get into a hill humping contest with a Stalker while you're in an Atlas? Bad idea. Your guns are low slung and you have to expose yourself a lot to use them. Doing it in a Jager? Brilliant. That mech's hardpoints are tailor-made for this sort of thing. This also means using these hardpoints to your advantage and putting appropriate weaponry in them. For instance, don't put your big guns in the lowest slung points on your mech. Keep em high and you'll be able to take advantage of any hills. Of course, this depends on your mech but this goes back to playing your chosen variant correctly. Don't use the Cataphract CTF-4X as a hill-humper because all the big guns are super low slung. DO use it to keep people suppressed when you can and as a heavy fire support mech. Similarly, don't try to use a Victor as a frontline mech. You hit hard but don't have Atlas grade armor to absorb hits with. DO use an Atlas for that because it's a purpose-built party crasher.
4.) Play medium mechs a lot, even though the meta would make you think they're bad.
Yes, really. The better armor and firepower of a heavy or assault Mech is no replacement for good situational awareness and positioning. Pick a mech with a specific role to flesh out your skills in that area, i.e. if you want to be a better brawler then run a HBK-4G. You will die a lot, you will get your ass kicked, and it will make you a better pilot.
5.) Patience can help a lot.
There are just as many times when hanging back and waiting for the right moment is just as advantageous as crashing the gates and going nuts. This is especially true in the current meta where a lot of stuff out there that can vaporize you if you get too ballsy.
That said, there is a time and a place for coordinated, balls-out gate crashing. Going in with your buddies all at once can do amazing things to break the enemy's lines but it has to be done carefully and at the right time, which goes back to that whole fickle patience thing.
6.) Let the pubbies go first.
They tend to follow anyone that looks even remotely competent. Seeing as how we tend to love flanking maneuvers and speed we end up with a tendency to have the pubbies follow us when we're counting on them to blob to their usual locations. Wait a little bit at the start of the match before you strike out to do horrible things to the enemy's butts.
7.) Want some great fundamentals training? Don't be shy about taking your mech onto the training grounds and just cruising around checking out the maps to learn it.
While you're doing that keep moving at high speeds as you shoot up the dummy mechs to learn to move and shoot fluidly. Circle around them while keeping your crosshair on the target via torso twisting until you don't have to think about it. Practice popping up behind a hill, acquiring your target, firing, and hiding as fast as possible until it becomes second nature. The more skills you commit to muscle memory, the better a pilot you'll be. Remember, you fight like you train so train like you fight.
8.) Want some great aim training?
Pick up a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 and setup a bot deathmatch with lightning guns only and the game speed mutator set to 150% speed. From here, practice getting headshots on the move in the training grounds. It's a hard target to hit in most mechs and it will help you fine tune your aim with MWO's weapons.
9.) Call your targets to aid in focus firing and for Kerensky's sake, press R to lock on to your targets!
With 12 vs 12 and the recent UI upgrades, we have more phonetic alphabet letters to learn to aid in target calling! For your reference here's the full list:
10.) Skill Trees and YOU, the Prospective MechWarrior
With PGI's launch of the new Skill Tree system in June 2017, many pilots have been left wondering "WTF do I do with this thing?" Fortunately, your friend and mine @Gnome-Interruptus has provided a great shortcut to give you a jumpstart to your skill tree selections:
Thanks Gnome!
0.) When in doubt, use Steam to install/load MWO. This way, you don't need to monkey around with the stand-alone launcher PGI originally released, that is rapidly approaching end-of-life.
1.) A lot of times when emailing support they will have you run the official MWO repair tool. The repair tool is built into the launcher, select the gear icon in the upper right corner of the window, then select "Start the MWO repair tool". Try this before going any more in depth with trying to fix things!
2.) A reinstall can do wonders if you're having problems with the bootstrap launcher (the patcher thing that pops up before you get the login window). Sometimes the uninstall goes wrong (because of course), so go here if it won't reinstall.
3.) Try manually deleting the shader cache (MWO should do this automatically, but sometimes fails and it gets corrupted). The post in the link also gives steps to set up a batch script to force the deletion each time MWO loads.
4.) This is a weird fix, but some people found that moving the install directory to another physical drive solves crashes. Literally cut/paste the directory and update shortcuts manually. Not sure if moving to another partition on the same drive helps.
5.) Force your video card to stop power-save throttling and disable ambient occlusion.
6.) Force multi-threading, in case the game isn't using all available cores.
Tips from @Cabezone!
7.) I recommend people run the repair tool even with a new installation. I've had crashing after a fresh install fixed by the tool.
8.) Setting my PC to high performance also fixed an issue I was having where Mechwarrior was set to some low powered mode and the video card wasn't able to run full out.
GOOD HUNTING, MECHWARRIORS.
Last thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/209468/mechwarrior-battletech-the-oosik-irregulars-are-going-to-become-canon-evacuate-thread
With the close of 2014, the Faction Play (Community Warfare) game mode launched in MWO. CW (as we colloquially call it) has a unique set of rules from the pub games you are accustomed to, and you should be aware of the following things before getting in.
1. Faction Play is a faction-on-faction battle for control of planetary territories.
Once logged into the game, click on the Faction tab. You will see the ongoing struggle of the player-supported factions in MWO, represented by a map of the Inner Sphere.
(Image taken during Invasion Era, Year 3057 (Dec-2017). Note the total Clan domination.)[/center]
2. You must be associated with a Faction to participate in Faction Play matches.
Play a lot of MWO, but not aligned to a Faction? Reading this post? Congratulations, you're an Oosik! This entitles you to admittance to our entirely-undiscriminating Units in MWO, which will align you with one of the great Factions on offer! We have two Units for your Stompy Robot convenience:
The Oosik Irregulars (Inner Sphere side - Free Rasalhague Republic aligned)
The original bastion of stompy bot goodness, you'll want to join this Unit if you enjoy carousing, alcoholism, Space Vikings, and old-school Inner Sphere Mechs. Simply ask any current member for a Unit invite, and you'll be in on the ground floor of our one-story operation.
Note that you will need to have a proper complement of Inner Sphere Mechs to participate in CW with the Irregulars; see more below!
The Iron Oosiks (Clan side - Clan Ghost Bear aligned)
The newest hotness in the Inner Sphere, you'll want to join this unit if you enjoy whales, alcoholism, tribal ceremonies, and the newest and sleekest Clan 'Mech rides.
Note that you will need to have a proper complement of Clan Mechs to participate in CW with the Iron Oosiks; see more below!
You don't need to be in a Unit to participate in CW, but it's one of the most expedient ways to accomplish getting drops.
3. You must have a proper drop deck of Mechs ready to participate in CW matches.
A drop deck is a set of four valid mechs (no more, no less), weighing between 160 and 250 (Clan) or 265 (IS) total tons (NOTE: This changes with some regularity). Each 'Mech in your drop deck must be faction appropriate; at this time, this means IS 'Mechs for an IS faction, and Clan 'Mechs for a Clan faction.
To reiterate: There is NO cross-faction availability of chassis for the initial launch of CW. If you are in an IS unit, you may only use IS 'Mechs. If you are in a Clan unit, you may only use Clan 'Mechs. This is why the Oosiks are offering two different units to join, to fit your desired playstyle.
4. The Queueing system for CW matches is, bluntly put, hard to grok.
To help players understand how the matchmaker works in CW, and to detail recent (Jan-2015) changes to the system, PGI has posted an infographic-studded explanation on their forums. Read through it, and group up for great justice!
To help this a bit though....
5. The Looking For Group Window
At the bottom of the Client UI, you'll see a small button labeled LFG. When you click this button, a small prompt will open up saying "Looking for Public Queue Matches" or "Looking for Community Warfare Matches"; select the latter. This will signal to drop commanders that are forming teams in-game that you are available. It also allows you to see if a team has sent you an invite.
How in the heck are the maps determined for a Faction Warfare match?
Courtesy of my friend and yours, @Gnome-Interruptus:
For the image-inclined:
Want to play some CW, but can't find enough Oosiks to properly group? The Free Rasalhague Republic faction maintains a public Teamspeak server through which to coordinate team-ups! You can find more info at https://www.reddit.com/r/OutreachHPG/comments/6efbs6/frrkurita_hub_teamspeak_address_change_to/
Teamspeak Server Address: frrhub.isengrim.org
Teamspeak Server Password: Dragon
Several Oosik Irregulars have vetted this team-up and voice option, and found it to be valuable!
Want to see a super-cool time-lapse image of the state of holdings in the Inner Sphere during Beta 1? Click Here! (OP is old, but check later in the thread for more fun images.
Helpful Tips from your Oosik Buddies
Thanks to @Kaboodles_The_Assassin, @Gnome-Interruptus, and @Konphujun for some of these helpful tips!
O N E W E E K
I can see if I can persuade my other half to take over home duties Thursday night.
You stand up to her and say "I am the god damn man of this house, woman! Please let play robots with my internet friends please please oh god please?"
Hey now, we're classier then that. I'd be in public so I'd get a clean tank top before I left the house.
You have to stop drinking to get a hangover. Pffft, like we'd let that happen.
Like Richard Hammond in the trucking special?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
"You bought a heroin lorry"
Almost spat my god damn tea on the screen. How absolutely perfect.
Stat tracking is a little broken though. I'm still at 0-0 on the main menu despite having played several matches.
You playing the 1v1 or 2v2?
Steam: betsuni7
1v1
Though I can see that it's pretty much going to be nonstop legging.
I'm missing the tactic on this.
Is the tactic to leg your opponent, then runoff and let the timer expire?
Or leg then go to a safe distance then just shoot with long range weapons?
Edit: Oh, think I get what you are saying. Blow off enemy mech legs and win.
Steam: betsuni7
I mean nothing is stopping you except your own conscience
Rephrase this? Like, what background info, and catch up on what?
it depends. Can you see the Capellan Confederation from your porch?
There’s 30+ years worth of sourcebooks, novels, short fiction, and an animated TV series so “catching up” is kind of a daunting task.
But the wiki at Sarna.net is probably both the oldest and most comprehensive (though far from complete) resource available. I’m unaware of any solid introductions to the universe’s history though, having basically grown up immersed in this stuff myself.
Or if you have specific questions you can ask the old grognards in this thread and we can spend several pages arguing over stories about fighting robots
Can't really think of a better way to spend the time waiting for the game to be released.
I’ll port it to a usable system... someday
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/History
If you want a primer on all of Battletech as a media franchise in general and key concepts, you can look at the Battletech Primer:
https://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/BattleTechPrimer_Final.pdf
@Trajan45
I'm asssuming you mean, like, general background on the world, what Battletech is, etc. Here you go:
- BattleTech is the name of a setting for a tabletop wargame (also called BattleTech) that first came out in 1984, and a pen-and-paper roleplaying game called MechWarrior, as well as decades of tie-in novels, a cartoon series, comic books, etc. MechWarrior got used as the title for two Super Nintendo games and a series of classic PC shooter games set in the Battletech universe, leading to lots of confusion among people who don't realize that BattleTech and MechWarrior are the same thing. It's like how Rebel Assault and Knights of the Old Republic are both Star Wars.
- The vibe of Battletech is "Game of Thrones with giant robots." It's a world of backstabbing medieval politics combined with sci-fi military tactics. The creators were inspired by the Macross anime, and even licensed some Macross designs for use as Battletech robots, but they were also hardcore science fiction and military fiction nerds so it's a much more hard sci-fi take on how robots would work. As you can see, the mechs aren't athletic, they don't do graceful kung-fu jumps over buildings. They're stompy, bulky tanks and have real-life problems like overheating.
- The backstory, which is what the opening cinematic depicts, is that humans spend the next few hundred years colonizing space in all directions (creating a big ball around Earth, or the "Inner Sphere"). Eventually the planets of the Inner Sphere unite to form the Star League, a single government for humanity. There are hundreds of years of peace and prosperity. However, the hereditary ruler of the Star League is betrayed and assassinated by his best friend and the Inner Sphere is plunged into bloody civil war. 5 noble families, each with a claim to the throne, start fighting over who should rule next, using Mechs on the battlefield and politics, spies, assassination, sex, betrayal, etc off the battlefield. The Star League collapses into a number of smaller governments; the 5 biggest, ruled by those noble families, are called the "Successor States," and their wars for control of the Inner Sphere are so destructive that humanity forgets a lot of its advanced technology and begins to regress.
- In the world of Battletech, faster than light travel is slow. It takes a while to get places. FTL communication is also kind of slow and unreliable and has gotten worse now that most people have forgotten how to operate their advanced technology. A leader can't direct their troops or command their bureaucracy from the capital, because it can take a month to get news from the front lines and another month to send orders back. So leaders appoint people they can trust - family members and friends - to take charge in their name in exchange for a promise of loyalty, creating a modern feudal system of lords, ladies, dukes, counts, etc. In this modern feudal system, Mech pilots are like knights. Every noble family has its Mech that gets passed down, like getting your father's sword. That's what your dude in this game is.
- Because so much technology has been lost, Battlemechs have become priceless treasures, constantly salvaged off the battlefield, repaired, and passed down from generation to generation. Every Mech has been in dozens or hundreds of combats.
- This game is set in the Rimward Periphery, less-colonized space along one edge of the Inner Sphere. The huge ongoing war for control isn't as much of a factor here, but this place has its own problems, with several smaller governments fighting amongst themselves and trying not to get stepped on by the giant Successor States, as well as lots of bandits, outlaws, and other sources of conflict and chaos. This way your character gets to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and influence important events in this part of space.
- Like Star Wars, Battletech has sa big timeline with decades of events happening in it. A character who's a young hotshot in one story is a wise old man in another story. This game is set in the year 3025, the start of the timeline, where Battletech began when it first came out in 1984. If you've ever played any of the MechWarrior games or heard people talking about them, you've probably heard a lot of stuff about "Clans" and other things; almost all of that stuff comes later in the story. This new game is back to basics.
A quick note on timelines:
The Battletech timeline stretches from basically present day all the way to like, 3150. It’s important to note however that basically nothing we talk about here takes place at the end of that timeline. Instead you have to be cognizant of when exactly the bit of Battletech you’re playing with takes place if you want to engage with the storyline on that level.
In the case of Battletech the game takes place circa 3025, prior to the 4th Succession War, on the rimward periphery.
MWO on the other hand is currently ~3067, in the aftermath of the FedCom civil war
Nooo, my one weakness.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
I feel like 3025 Battletech is really clean and straightforward. It's a great setup for a game. There are these five big countries, they fight a lot and just got done with a big fight so now you, Player Character, get to be a merc doing black ops for all of them. There is a clean setup, clear conflicts, a couple of good mysteries (what was up with that Kerensky guy disappearing with half the army? why do the people running the phone company seem kind of off?) and you're off to the races.
I feel like it's after the Clans - particularly after the FedCom Civil War - that the setting just really loses the plot and gets lost up its own butt with endless, recursive complexity.
tl;dr
Humanity spreads to the stars, spends some time united as the Star League
Infighting in the League starts, the commander of the Star League’s military takes a good look around, says “you guys suck,” and leaves with most of the military for parts unknown
Huge power vacuum leads to lots of war, and the League ends up splintering into Space France, Space Germany, Space Japan, Space China, and whatever House Marik is
Technological development grinds to a halt and in some cases goes backwards due to centuries of warfare
Also, at some point near the start if all this, someone said “hey those big walking things we use for industrial work sure would be neat with some guns” and BattleMechs were born
real lols
It still blows me away that she’s not only in the game but also one of the starting cadre of mechwarriors that everyone gets.