Battletech (Page 7 of 7)
|
Originally Posted By Webdood: OG Fasa BT and Shadowrun fan. I have most of the FASA boxed sets and sourcebooks along with a fair number of the BT Novels and most of the Shadowrun Novels. I liked BT The best when technology was in the dumpster and salvaging post battle was needed to keep your company intact. The few remaining mech factories were automated and cobbled together and targets for war. I agree, we still only play 3025 on the tabletop, and just in the last few weeks have been taking on a star of Omnimechs in Megamek, but even now, I still think of 3050 as "new, dirty clan garbage tech" for players who don't understand heat management and actual tactics. 
|
Advanced Fighting Gear for the AR, AK, AUG, Tavor, and Scorpion EVO! www.manticorearms.com
|
Originally Posted By hoosierhick: This is interesting, if true https://i.postimg.cc/WbBpps10/20250904-144401.jpg I understand dialing back ammo explosions a bit, as they are almost always an insta-kill. Maybe treat them like CASE where it just blows out the whole section (a good justification for segmenting the torsos). But a mech not falling when it loses a leg? That is a vague description, but there should at least a good chance of falling Removing missile cluster groups is going to make SRM's way less useful for sandblasting/crit finding, and will dial up the punch of LRM's tremendously, basically turning them into a 21 space AC/20 depending on how they do it. Most of the things they are suggesting are not things I have heard players complain about. The biggest complaints I see from people I play with are the fact the rear arc does not move when you torso twist, water movement is MP costly, and no one ever remembers when you need to do Piloting Skill Rolls for water, hills, etc during movement, plus facing when falling gets weird. Basically everything they are proposing sounds to radically alter how the game is played. Maybe they are trying to lower the barrier to entry for new players, as it is a steep hill to climb, but that is also what attracts a lot of players- it is granular, not just "roll a D6 and take X number of hits" like Warhammer 40K, Bolt Action, etc. My personal opinion is if you want simpler, play Alpha Strike. It makes the game more vanilla and 40K-like while still keeping a small sliver of the special system effects involved. It also allows for bigger battles easily up to battalian vs. battalion in a few hours. Or develop it as a "streamline" version of Battletech that is in between Alpha Strike and the OG version. Give it a clever name or call it Battletech Speedplay or whatever. Maybe I am just an old Grognard, but I don't think this is going to pull more people into Battletech, it feels more like people at Catalyst want to put their fingerprints on a game they feel is frozen in time. (they have made mutliple comments in the past that suggest they feel stuck in what they can develop, and that Battletech Gothic is a litmus test to see if they can expand outside the boundaries of what exists in canon) Of course if it is a success (and Catalyst, despite some of their internal drama, does seem to be making Battletech come back strong as an IP) then I am just an old Grognard who doesn't want to change the way I play a game I really like. ETA: 10 turn limit? Good lord, they ARE trying to turn it into a 40K-esque game. They are definitely going to alienate a lot of existing players if they force this. Better be a world beater of an upgrade... |
Advanced Fighting Gear for the AR, AK, AUG, Tavor, and Scorpion EVO! www.manticorearms.com
|
Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: I agree, we still only play 3025 on the tabletop, and just in the last few weeks have been taking on a star of Omnimechs in Megamek, but even now, I still think of 3050 as "new, dirty clan garbage tech" for players who don't understand heat management and actual tactics. I've said it before and I'm probably not the only one, but clantech fundamentally changes the game. Prime example is the Clan ER ML vs Inner Sphere LL. ERML 1 ton 1 crit, 5 heat, 7 damage, 5/10/15 range IS LL 5 tons 2 crits, 8 heat, 8 damage 5/10/15 range Clan does only one less point of damage for everything else being the same or better, but makes enough weight to carry 5 of them. Works ok if you stick to the game world and remember they have far less troops than a post-Helm Memory Core renaissance Inner Sphere. But a place where life is cheap and battlemechs aren't, like the era of Decision at Thunder Rift, where there are a handful of mechs deciding the fate of a world, are pretty badass. |
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: I've said it before and I'm probably not the only one, but clantech fundamentally changes the game. Prime example is the Clan ER ML vs Inner Sphere LL. ERML 1 ton 1 crit, 5 heat, 7 damage, 5/10/15 range IS LL 5 tons 2 crits, 8 heat, 8 damage 5/10/15 range Clan does only one less point of damage for everything else being the same or better, but makes enough weight to carry 5 of them. Works ok if you stick to the game world and remember they have far less troops than a post-Helm Memory Core renaissance Inner Sphere. But a place where life is cheap and battlemechs aren't, like the era of Decision at Thunder Rift, where there are a handful of mechs deciding the fate of a world, are pretty badass. Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: I agree, we still only play 3025 on the tabletop, and just in the last few weeks have been taking on a star of Omnimechs in Megamek, but even now, I still think of 3050 as "new, dirty clan garbage tech" for players who don't understand heat management and actual tactics. I've said it before and I'm probably not the only one, but clantech fundamentally changes the game. Prime example is the Clan ER ML vs Inner Sphere LL. ERML 1 ton 1 crit, 5 heat, 7 damage, 5/10/15 range IS LL 5 tons 2 crits, 8 heat, 8 damage 5/10/15 range Clan does only one less point of damage for everything else being the same or better, but makes enough weight to carry 5 of them. Works ok if you stick to the game world and remember they have far less troops than a post-Helm Memory Core renaissance Inner Sphere. But a place where life is cheap and battlemechs aren't, like the era of Decision at Thunder Rift, where there are a handful of mechs deciding the fate of a world, are pretty badass. I've often said FASA screwed the pooch w/ the way they handled the Clans from the get go. Making them a honor bound, warrior based society Fine. Making them solve issues via personal combat? Fine. Giving them longer ranged, cooler running, lighter weapons? Dumb. If anything, the IS should've had the longer ranged stuff and the Clans should've had weapons that focused on closer ranged, harder hitting weapons. That way the IS has the edge at range and can whittle them down as the Clanners got into range and then their superior, harder hitting stuff evened out the scale. They focus on duels, why would they do that at range? They'd still have LRM/MRMs, superior tech SRMs, Gauss, etc. Why are their lasers not double damage/heat like the Heavy lasers are now? It has never made sense to me. |
“Always love your country — but never trust your government!" - Robert Novak
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: I've said it before and I'm probably not the only one, but clantech fundamentally changes the game. I think FASA lost its way with Battletech after developing the Renegade Legion game series. Where Battletech was carefully balanced between range and hitting power (for example: autocannons - as they increased in power, they increased in weight/bulk and heat and reduced range) where it was largely inevitable that the 'mechs would come toe-to-toe and start bashing each other, the Renegade Legion games presented a very high-tech and lethal battlefield at any range. Both games were great fun to play but operated on completely different premises. FASA tried to apply Renegade Legion lethality to Battletech and it didn't work. XL engines (and XXL too) made light 'mechs obsolete and double heatsinks made overheating a 'mech unlikely instead of a strategic concern. I played only 3025 tech with a few additions from Maximum Tech. |
|
Originally Posted By Paulie771: I've often said FASA screwed the pooch w/ the way they handled the Clans from the get go. Making them a honor bound, warrior based society Fine. Making them solve issues via personal combat? Fine. Giving them longer ranged, cooler running, lighter weapons? Dumb. If anything, the IS should've had the longer ranged stuff and the Clans should've had weapons that focused on closer ranged, harder hitting weapons. That way the IS has the edge at range and can whittle them down as the Clanners got into range and then their superior, harder hitting stuff evened out the scale. They focus on duels, why would they do that at range? They'd still have LRM/MRMs, superior tech SRMs, Gauss, etc. Why are their lasers not double damage/heat like the Heavy lasers are now? It has never made sense to me. It was a jump in the game tech that kinda sorta worked, but there is a big game balance change. The idea of clanners using close range tech when they hate physical attacks would be odd, but it makes sense as an alternate intro for clans. If one sticks to the weak clan log train idea, it kinda works, and the invasion peters out just like it does. But at the gaming table, it's really a distortion of power. Playing battle values or combat values or whatever campaign system they came up with just doesn't seem to balance out that well, either. It's like it needed an overhaul to ask damage per turn compared to heat, manueverabilty, duration of fire, etc. A hunchback is scary for 10 rounds. A crusader is scary for like 8 rounds. An awesome or grasshopper is scary for all the rounds. Range has it's own problems when I know I can take a personal rifle out to 300 yards (about 10 hexes) and hit pretty easy. But ranges were developed to be able to have big robots fight. Hell, early game books noted that commanders would establish scenarios with enemy commanders to avoid destroying objectives once they got scarce, setting up the scenarios in-world. |
|
Originally Posted By SCR556: I think FASA lost its way with Battletech after developing the Renegade Legion game series. Where Battletech was carefully balanced between range and hitting power (for example: autocannons - as they increased in power, they increased in weight/bulk and heat and reduced range) where it was largely inevitable that the 'mechs would come toe-to-toe and start bashing each other, the Renegade Legion games presented a very high-tech and lethal battlefield at any range. Both games were great fun to play but operated on completely different premises. FASA tried to apply Renegade Legion lethality to Battletech and it didn't work. XL engines (and XXL too) made light 'mechs obsolete and double heatsinks made overheating a 'mech unlikely instead of a strategic concern. I played only 3025 tech with a few additions from Maximum Tech. Max Tech (and the Tactical Handbook bastard child that came before it that I absolutely love for how much it does not give a fuck) offer other solutions that occasionally only exist in fiction. Weather & environmental conditions. Autocannons don't care about shitty atmosphere while lasers degrade. Cold or hot planets mess things up. Lasers don't care about heavier gravity where autocannon range gets cut. In world solutions exist, but sometimes required house rules or MW as an RPG that in TT BT required more established rules. Fighting in vacuum, LBX autocannons become really cool. SRM launchers changed to torpedoes and using tandem-charge warheads end fights quick. Tandem charge makes elementals obsolete (which they had to nerf). It's all house rules when you get down to the gaming group anyway. They could easily be offering planet campaign books throughout every fucking world and every era with individual planet special rules that people can adopt if they choose. I know to some degree they do, but take a book like Objective Raids and then make a book for each. Crank out one a month and you can still run it for 100 years. |
|
re: balance. I don't much care for what passes as "balance" in most places, which just effectively only means "nobody and nothing can ever have a meaningful advantage that hurts fe-fes, and everything should be used equally." ------------------------------------------------------ Hired steel season one cut together:  Hired Steel: A Mech Machinima – Season One Supercut ------------------------------------------------------ Next phase of the "no we pinky swear we're not changing BT rules, that's not happening, and BT rules have always changed, you dirty bigots, you deserve it"...
 Change the side hit table for no discernable reason when maneuvering to the side already made your hit rate to that side go up? Check. Have to change ammo explosions because you were too dumb to make all hits that would have hit the other side just miss? Check. Realize this will make legs fall off MUCH faster so you have to change the crit damage system so a shot that would have blown a leg off no longer does that? Check. "Trust us, we know what we're doing guys." |
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: re: balance. I don't much care for what passes as "balance" in most places, which just effectively only means "nobody and nothing can ever have a meaningful advantage that hurts fe-fes, and everything should be used equally." ------------------------------------------------------ Problem is there is some game balance that has to be had, or the game ends. The Clan ERML vs Inner Sphere LL is such a radical thing that it makes for severe imbalance, and was never revisited because it was a core system. Tac Handbook got rewritten into Max Tech, because the Tac Handbook was full of wunderwaffen large and small. Dead-fire/dumb-fire LRMs were fucking devastating. LRM 20 that now ranges 6/12/18 and does 3d6 lowest 2 dice on the 20 table, but clusters damage by 5 missle clusters...doing 2 points each... so a bunch of 10s? So average hit is 9 or 12 missiles, 18-24 points damage? A mech like the Archer goes from tough to vicious, and a mech like the Salamander erases hexes. The game system has to be in service of the game setting, hence why a rifle platoon can't hit anything at 10 hexes. Problem becomes what is the focus of that game setting? Does balance or imbalance exist for the setting and story, or does it exist just because it's so-and-so's book, which will be followed by nerfing or more power creep? - New rules needs a clown makeup meme. |
Huh.
|
|
Originally Posted By hoosierhick: Huh.
|
|
Originally Posted By SCR556: This hits the nail on the head and is the reason why I didn't care for the new/clan tech. Originally Posted By SCR556: Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: ...for players who don't understand heat management and actual tactics. Thankfully, I can play on either side of that fence and not be bothered, but I do see why some would just find it annoying. You just *don't have* to account for heat most of the time in t he same way. Of course ... uh ... well, look at my avatar. It facemelts in level 1 tech. Just don't fire the rear facing one and heat stays almost braindead manageable. Strangely enough, even darkage doesn't bother me, but I suspect that's because I didn't do the clicky tech - I just read the novels. They really were trying to get back to the old ethos of "take and control a planet with a lance or three" but they just couldn't get the toothpaste back into the tube, and the stories and such spun right back up to regiment on regiment. What put me off was the stuff with blaine, and being told there were other things involved, but nobody had the guts to say it in public. Then the stuff with rem happened, and they sleazily took over the battletech reddit, corrupted the heck out of the sarna news feed, and instead of just having one obnoxiously filthy author who didn't like writing mech combat (bick), they hired vicious sleazebags like bryan young, who bragged about transing his kids and seriously thought anastaius focht was trans.  It was hard not to catch a clue on that. I haven't kept up on the new stuff post that. Yeah, I knew about the "mixed up funds" involved with the home improvements (bathroom? porch? I forgot) and read about the fights with them not paying royalties and wow, some of the stuff you saw on dumpshock's forums. They still somehow managed to keep their mouths shut on "you're bad people for not being leftists" in those, for the most part. I'm content to never give them another penny and enjoy all the stuff from before that. |
|
Originally Posted By hoosierhick: Huh.
 
|
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G2qjFOaXAAAaO26?format=jpg&name=orig https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G2qjFO2WQAE3cfh?format=jpg&name=orig I guarantee at least 1/2 to 2/3 of those orders were from people who just wanted the gothic aesthetic minatures to use as periphery/pirate/cool variant units in the normal BT universe, not because any of them wanted a new setting. That in itself is kind of a commentary on the Gothic mech designs, which were just standard designs with greeblies stuck on them- most look very uninspired with "gothic window dressing" pasted on. IMHO Catalyst doubled down on the derp with Gothic, as it supposedly has rules for kaiju i.e. "mega fauna" which would have excited a lot of players of BT as a neat option to try out, but they didn't include any miniatures for them, nor did they market that aspect of the game at all. It seems like it was a very mixed message product- an attempt to target the Warhammer 40K market, yet very little actual effort put into doing that as a realistic attempt. I view it as the game version of that Blaine Pardoe BT novel where they end up on a world with sentient alien birds due to a misjump. |
Advanced Fighting Gear for the AR, AK, AUG, Tavor, and Scorpion EVO! www.manticorearms.com
|
Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: . I view it as the game version of that Blaine Pardoe BT novel where they end up on a world with sentient alien birds due to a misjump. As one of the very few fans of Far Country, I respectfully disagree. Far Country was meant to be part of the Comstar Explorer Corps weirdness but then disavowed...because people forgot the early Davion books with primitive alien ape men. This is less Blaine Pardoe and more Chris Gaines. |
|
Well. You can tell where we are in the cycle. "That won't happen, we don't want that. If it's happening, you deserve it. it IS happening, it always has. It happened and you deserve it you jerks." We've gone from "we're not really changing it" to: https://www.sarna.net/news/classic-battletech-playtest-interview-keith-hann/ There’s stuff that could have been done when you start getting into the 11th, and now I think the 12th printing of Total Warfare is coming up, each one with its own individual errata changes. If it were just straight reprints, whatever, but we’re not. We’re changing it all the time—BattleTech’s rules do change. It’s just ridiculous. We really should stop pretending that someone who has the first printing and someone who’s going to have the upcoming 12th printing are playing the same game, because in many ways, they’re not. The closer you are to ’Mechs, the more stable it is. The further you move away from ’Mechs, the more things get a little hinky. Don't pee on our heads and say it's rain. You're changing the core rules and you're using "but we modified other stuff" as a cloak to cover that with. You know good and well what we meant when we said it hasn't changed. Instead of being an adult and fessing up immediately, you've chosen the lie and decieve route, hoping not enough customers notice or care. Well, now we have an inkling of where this stuff comes from: Sean: Again, in previous interviews, you’ve said that one of the golden rules of this playtest is that there will be no changes to ’Mech record sheets. But how much would you really like to be able to change some of those fundamental values? For example, basic autocannons so that the AC/2 and AC/5 aren’t completely garbage weapons? Keith: Well, everyone would like to do that. I did actually; I ran a 10-year-long campaign with some friends of mine. We played BattleTech with very, very limited accounting-type stuff as a mercenary group, and I used the Hero system for the role-playing game. We knew Hero very well, and part of that, I redid all of the weapons, and then I rewrote TRO 3039. I laid it out and everything in Microsoft Word, which is not something I advise people to use as a layout program, but I got very good at it. I’m a whiz at making Microsoft Word do stupid things it was never intended to do. Great. So he's forcing his modified house rules on everyone else. |
|
It's like they missed that Level 3 rules were the way to do this. Back at the dawn of the internet, there was a Shadowrun GM named BlackJack who had one of the earliest and best SR pages. He made some rules mods for people to use if they liked - he had a heavy firepower and a more deadly rules set. Amazingly it's back up. https://www.blackjacksr.com/ https://www.blackjacksr.com/stuffmenu/BlackjacksCorner.htm Buried somewhere in amidst some of the best GMming advice ever is a rules set for Maximum Firepower, which sets you up to shoot a lot. It's a great house rule. It changes the game, but it could also be introduced as a standalone theme for a game. Likewise, Dragon Magazine back in the early 90s had the best house rules that most folks took as official rules ever.    You could float something like Blackjack's rules as an optional theme for a campaign. Float the Dragon rules as themes for an era campaign. See what the response is. Want to make AC2s scary? Give them a crit chance modifier. Set it up in a couple of modules and see what the response is. Solaris VII was full of craziness. Claws and maces and weird heat and ranges and if you want it in the game, great. And if you don't, ignore it. Level 3 rules for a given setting. |
|
Finally reinstalled mw5 mercs and put in the DLCs. put in the YAML mods, the mod options mod, advanced zoom, and https://www.nexusmods.com/mechwarrior5mercenaries/mods/227 For an actually useful reticle ... it is MUCH better. Also, joystick support got sorted out by the community, *almost* no thanks to PGI, who still don't understand mechwarrior games. Joystick gremlin, hid hider, vjoy ... got my MS precision pro 1 (usb) sorted, and now I have full working joystick control. Just mapped my 8 way hat up and down to do mousehweel up and down, so it properly triggers advanced zoom's mw4 style zoom box (4x and 8x zoom). I can actually snipe again. I miss pulling the hat down to see the rear view cam, the one in von's biomes appears to just put a rear view cam down on the bottom of your screen, all the time, and that is distinctly not what I wanted. I also find it incredible that they didn't think to have the radar hud display indicate which enemy or friendly you had targetted. It's not as fun as MW3 was in it's day, and the missions are derivative and not very inspiring because they are apparently generated on the fly, so it's not as fun as mw4 was. They've added too many side games inside the game like cantina and etc. that just clutter and distract from the core gameplay loop: mech building and mech combat. That said, with the mods and everything, and me being kinda jaded, it's now passably fun. |
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: It's like they missed that Level 3 rules were the way to do this. Back at the dawn of the internet, there was a Shadowrun GM named BlackJack who had one of the earliest and best SR pages. He made some rules mods for people to use if they liked - he had a heavy firepower and a more deadly rules set. Amazingly it's back up. https://www.blackjacksr.com/ https://www.blackjacksr.com/stuffmenu/BlackjacksCorner.htm Buried somewhere in amidst some of the best GMming advice ever is a rules set for Maximum Firepower, which sets you up to shoot a lot. It's a great house rule. It changes the game, but it could also be introduced as a standalone theme for a game. Likewise, Dragon Magazine back in the early 90s had the best house rules that most folks took as official rules ever. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/263159/Dr166_1-3660981.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/263159/Dr_166_2-3660982.jpg https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/263159/Dr_166_3-3660983.jpg You could float something like Blackjack's rules as an optional theme for a campaign. Float the Dragon rules as themes for an era campaign. See what the response is. Want to make AC2s scary? Give them a crit chance modifier. Set it up in a couple of modules and see what the response is. Solaris VII was full of craziness. Claws and maces and weird heat and ranges and if you want it in the game, great. And if you don't, ignore it. Level 3 rules for a given setting. That was very neat to read, TY for sharing. 
|
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: That was very neat to read, TY for sharing. The original 3025 Hatchetman pays no crits or tonnage for the hatchet. The old one with this cover: Hatchetman just did 9 damage to punch hit locations because fuck you, Team Banzai built it. |
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: The original 3025 Hatchetman pays no crits or tonnage for the hatchet. The old one with this cover: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQvpeM6DWcjYSilrJuXVj7nXs7EgAg7L_Xx6bBft_BsHQ&s=10 Hatchetman just did 9 damage to punch hit locations because fuck you, Team Banzai built it. The rules for hatchets did not exist when the 3025 TRO came out, so it typically was just treated as a club. The Hatchet became an official item with weight and crits sometime after. I suspect in house at Fasa they had the rules worked out when the Hatchetman was designed, bit just replaced the 3 tons of hatchet with extra heatsinks so they didnt have to stick a new special rule in the TRO book. |
Advanced Fighting Gear for the AR, AK, AUG, Tavor, and Scorpion EVO! www.manticorearms.com
When game filesizes were small, the boxes were big, and full of cool stuff: Not mine, found on the net here: https://www.blackgate.com/2013/12/06/vintage-bits-battletech-the-crescent-hawks-inception/ -------------- Battletech mux nerd? Go here: https://btech.sourceforge.net/ Btw, don't forget your fiber and collagen and cane. -------------- Seems the greater BT community is *finally* finding out about the guy that partially rebuilt the MPBT:3025 server, and they're trying to find him.  SOS!!! YOU can Help us Save a Lost Piece of Battletech History!  Update and Clarification: We've Reached out to Razorwing 2137 |
Grumpy old jaded me gets some goosebumps: THE BLACK KNIGHT TRAILER - TEX TALKS BATTLETECH TRAILER @theblackpantslegion29 minutes ago
14 Months of Work. A fortune in effects. All for you guys. Prepare yourselves. Charity Fundraiser as always. Let's blow the roof off. |
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: Grumpy old jaded me gets some goosebumps:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfJifhsqc18@theblackpantslegion29 minutes ago 14 Months of Work. A fortune in effects. All for you guys. Prepare yourselves. Charity Fundraiser as always. Let's blow the roof off. Tex and the Black Pants guys seem like some of the best Battletech guys on the internet, and almost a throwback to maybe 15 or 20 years ago, after the Sze-chuan Liao thing or b whatever. Like when 3067 came out or so, or maybe right before the silly ass protomechs and the "we're obliterating 1000 years of history with the word of blake jihad out of nowhere" bad writing. They try to keep it as up to date but still traditional. Tex mentioning working with "energetic materials" in one of the admirals playthroughs was interesting, too. Guy has some real life mil connections that then lead to different approaches to Battletech. Not sure why the Blackjack "GM's okayest product" was that cool. It's like doing a video on the Whitworth or the Vulcan (though the Vulcan units in the Kentares Massacre make for an interesting footnote). I'd like to see one on the Hatchetman... or some of the "handed down for generations" 3025 mechs. Like the ammo-hungry Crusader, or the "tougher than they should be" Griffin/Shadow Hawk/Wolverine classic mediums. Or the Star League Thug. |
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Tex and the Black Pants guys seem like some of the best Battletech guys on the internet, and almost a throwback to maybe 15 or 20 years ago, after the Sze-chuan Liao thing or b whatever. Like when 3067 came out or so, or maybe right before the silly ass protomechs and the "we're obliterating 1000 years of history with the word of blake jihad out of nowhere" bad writing. They try to keep it as up to date but still traditional. Tex mentioning working with "energetic materials" in one of the admirals playthroughs was interesting, too. Guy has some real life mil connections that then lead to different approaches to Battletech. Not sure why the Blackjack "GM's okayest product" was that cool. It's like doing a video on the Whitworth or the Vulcan (though the Vulcan units in the Kentares Massacre make for an interesting footnote). I'd like to see one on the Hatchetman... or some of the "handed down for generations" 3025 mechs. Like the ammo-hungry Crusader, or the "tougher than they should be" Griffin/Shadow Hawk/Wolverine classic mediums. Or the Star League Thug. Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: Grumpy old jaded me gets some goosebumps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfJifhsqc18@theblackpantslegion29 minutes ago 14 Months of Work. A fortune in effects. All for you guys. Prepare yourselves. Charity Fundraiser as always. Let's blow the roof off. Tex and the Black Pants guys seem like some of the best Battletech guys on the internet, and almost a throwback to maybe 15 or 20 years ago, after the Sze-chuan Liao thing or b whatever. Like when 3067 came out or so, or maybe right before the silly ass protomechs and the "we're obliterating 1000 years of history with the word of blake jihad out of nowhere" bad writing. They try to keep it as up to date but still traditional. Tex mentioning working with "energetic materials" in one of the admirals playthroughs was interesting, too. Guy has some real life mil connections that then lead to different approaches to Battletech. Not sure why the Blackjack "GM's okayest product" was that cool. It's like doing a video on the Whitworth or the Vulcan (though the Vulcan units in the Kentares Massacre make for an interesting footnote). I'd like to see one on the Hatchetman... or some of the "handed down for generations" 3025 mechs. Like the ammo-hungry Crusader, or the "tougher than they should be" Griffin/Shadow Hawk/Wolverine classic mediums. Or the Star League Thug. So, from what I gather: tex did and I presume still can do gunsmithing. I think he worked or works with some sort of think tank directly in the MIC. Some of the stuff that has slipped out around the edges reminds me of things I have seen accounts here such as high order or the like post. I think he may at least peripherally be involved with actual wargaming, IDK and if he is, I wouldn't ask. IMO he has an account here but simply cannot talk about it because he would get shredded to pieces by the bluehair "boys can be girls" crew (Y'all noticed the sign outside the meeting house in one of his vids that, among other things, said "beans or no beans?") He picked up a good bit of the older generation's "don't sell out" ethos (to the point that it can be annoying at times) and has managed so far to thread the needle on not getting outrageously political in his content. Oh, people tried with him pretty hardcore though, and darn near ran him out of the community. If he wasn't so foul-mouthed I'd share his stuff all over the place and then some. Dude also needs good roomies to keep him from being a retard and killing himself with work, drinking, and eating 100 year old MREs for funsies. |
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: When game filesizes were small, the boxes were big, and full of cool stuff: https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Battletech-The-Crescent-Hawks-Inception-box-contents.jpg Not mine, found on the net here: https://www.blackgate.com/2013/12/06/vintage-bits-battletech-the-crescent-hawks-inception/ I played the shit out of those early PC games |
"They want you dead but will settle for your submission" - Malice
*spit take* Comstar Tech-Hymn (Clan Laser) I mean, the toaster worshippers and old comstar would probably have more esoteric arcane lyrics .... but otherwise... |
 Bury Me Where My AgroMech Falls (BattleTech Country) 
|
|
Amaris would most assuredly be going the other place. |
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Amaris would most assuredly be going the other place. Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Amaris would most assuredly be going the other place. ... and general kerensky, for being either the worst daddy ever, OR for not throwing his older son out the airlock at his earliest covenience. 
|
|
An aussie bought up the microprose logo and a bunch of their old IP and has been resurrecting a bunch of old games and genres. IDK if they have the license to BT or not but this is neat:  Steel Bounty — MicroProse Publishing Announcement |
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: An aussie bought up the microprose logo and a bunch of their old IP and has been resurrecting a bunch of old games and genres. IDK if they have the license to BT or not but this is neat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWvbrpjYNcInitiate slightly enhanced imaging! |
| Good to see the blakist hymns guy was posted here. I hate ai shit, but in the hands of the right person it shines. I realized that good ai music can be better than the drivel out in the radio waves. In a way ai music might help certain genres where no attention might never happen. |
|
Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: ... and general kerensky, for being either the worst daddy ever, OR for not throwing his older son out the airlock at his earliest covenience. Originally Posted By FlashMan-7k: Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Amaris would most assuredly be going the other place. ... and general kerensky, for being either the worst daddy ever, OR for not throwing his older son out the airlock at his earliest covenience. He just was trying to be supportive of his son, even if he didn't understand Nicholas' furry cosplaying.
|
Your best source for bullpup upgrades including the Hellion, Tavor, and AUG! www.manticorearms.com
|
Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: He just was trying to be supportive of his son, even if he didn't understand Nicholas' furry cosplaying. I prefer the idea of an alternate history where the clans keep splitting and dying into nothing and the Explorer Corps just finds more and more tech-dead worlds and that Kerensky's heirs are basically neolithic hunter gatherers. Heck, you could keep the same clans with their animal totems, but as primitives. Maybe one or two generations of vatborn before tech died results in weird ordered breeding caste purity that leads to mutations and real strangeness. Basically like the tragic ending of the planet in Far Country where quibbling planetary warlords live in a miserable state of declining war into oblivion. But with space animal cults and scientific inbreeding turned into a religion. With or without stone age birds, I'm okay either way. Early Battletech novel with Ardan Sortek (Davion general) had him running into some hominid primates, which I also don't mind. I'm sure I'm the minority on that, but it's rare enough I don't mind. |
|
Originally Posted By Sirveaux: I prefer the idea of an alternate history where the clans keep splitting and dying into nothing and the Explorer Corps just finds more and more tech-dead worlds and that Kerensky's heirs are basically neolithic hunter gatherers. Heck, you could keep the same clans with their animal totems, but as primitives. Maybe one or two generations of vatborn before tech died results in weird ordered breeding caste purity that leads to mutations and real strangeness. Basically like the tragic ending of the planet in Far Country where quibbling planetary warlords live in a miserable state of declining war into oblivion. But with space animal cults and scientific inbreeding turned into a religion. With or without stone age birds, I'm okay either way. Early Battletech novel with Ardan Sortek (Davion general) had him running into some hominid primates, which I also don't mind. I'm sure I'm the minority on that, but it's rare enough I don't mind. Originally Posted By Sirveaux: Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: He just was trying to be supportive of his son, even if he didn't understand Nicholas' furry cosplaying. I prefer the idea of an alternate history where the clans keep splitting and dying into nothing and the Explorer Corps just finds more and more tech-dead worlds and that Kerensky's heirs are basically neolithic hunter gatherers. Heck, you could keep the same clans with their animal totems, but as primitives. Maybe one or two generations of vatborn before tech died results in weird ordered breeding caste purity that leads to mutations and real strangeness. Basically like the tragic ending of the planet in Far Country where quibbling planetary warlords live in a miserable state of declining war into oblivion. But with space animal cults and scientific inbreeding turned into a religion. With or without stone age birds, I'm okay either way. Early Battletech novel with Ardan Sortek (Davion general) had him running into some hominid primates, which I also don't mind. I'm sure I'm the minority on that, but it's rare enough I don't mind. Although realistic in the realm of what probably would have happened to the exodus, the Clans are a plot device to move the game forward and shift the balance of power from the 5 houses fighting indefinitely in the 6 region split that never really changes (i.e. stagnation). From a game play/enjoyability perspective the path of the Kerensky Exodus just petering out sounds pretty boring, and more like the story of the Hanseatic League or on of the other Periphery nations. The point of the Clans was that even though they are alien to the Inner Sphere in their culture, and their technology is very advanced compared to the Inner Sphere, it is still ultimately Man vs. Man. The Clans think they are superior and know better how to rule over mankind, but in the end they are just a different flavor of conquerer who think as soon as they win, suddenly all of makind will have light shining down on it, all while hundreds of millions die in the process. They in the end are no better than Stephen Amaris, or the House Lords all of whom are constantly destroying humanity in the name of righteousness. The moral of the Battletech universe is that man is his own worst enemy. |
Your best source for bullpup upgrades including the Hellion, Tavor, and AUG! www.manticorearms.com
|
Alright, Let's go grognard and talk 3025 era (yea, everything up to about 3039 counts!) tech battltemechs. What is your favorite 3025 era battlemech, and why? I would have to go with the Battlemaster. Yeah, it is relatively lightly armed for an assault mech, and suffers from the "too big an engine" symptom of a lot of the 3025 assault mechs, BUT, being able to go 4/6 means you use your PPC for a bit until you close and then switch to medium laser buffet sprinkled with SRM's, and follow up with fists and feet! It is an excellent close range brawler with the armor to stand up to a straight up fight. The efficiency of the medium lasers makes up for the lack of weapon tonnage, and the torso mounting keeps limbs free for physicals. Plus a couple of MG's for when you need to deal with pesky infantry! My close second is a Wolverine M, 5/8/5 and swaps out that wimpy AC/5 for a large laser, more armor, more heatsinks, more medium laser...pretty much more of everything. Yeah, it can get warm easily, but it is a charge in, blast, and then cool down, and the weapon layout makes it easy to manage heat. |
Your best source for bullpup upgrades including the Hellion, Tavor, and AUG! www.manticorearms.com
|
Originally Posted By Manticore_Arms: Alright, Let's go grognard and talk 3025 era (yea, everything up to about 3039 counts!) tech battltemechs. What is your favorite 3025 era battlemech, and why? I would have to go with the Battlemaster. Yeah, it is relatively lightly armed for an assault mech, and suffers from the "too big an engine" symptom of a lot of the 3025 assault mechs, BUT, being able to go 4/6 means you use your PPC for a bit until you close and then switch to medium laser buffet sprinkled with SRM's, and follow up with fists and feet! It is an excellent close range brawler with the armor to stand up to a straight up fight. The efficiency of the medium lasers makes up for the lack of weapon tonnage, and the torso mounting keeps limbs free for physicals. Plus a couple of MG's for when you need to deal with pesky infantry! My close second is a Wolverine M, 5/8/5 and swaps out that wimpy AC/5 for a large laser, more armor, more heatsinks, more medium laser...pretty much more of everything. Yeah, it can get warm easily, but it is a charge in, blast, and then cool down, and the weapon layout makes it easy to manage heat. I've taken a liking to the Archer ACR-2K (2x Large Lasers and 2x LRM-15s variant). I've heard others say they aren't fans, but it worked well for me when I played tabletop. |
"Always consider the possibility that you may be wrong. Especially when you are absolutely certain you are right."
A Fencer of the Wood Cut School
Joined:
Jun 2005
Posts:
2789
EE: 100% (1)
NV, USA
|
Attached File This was my favorite variant from the 3025 era. A Banshee down-engined to free up tons of room for weapons and heat sinks. This was from Battletechnology magazine, in the 80s. Best, JBR |
"I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I do deny them my essence."
"Yes... yes. This is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... This Land."
"Yes... yes. This is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... This Land."
|
Originally Posted By Hellion-Productions: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/75898/1000015911_png-3718421.JPG This was my favorite variant from the 3025 era. A Banshee down-engined to free up tons of room for weapons and heat sinks. This was from Battletechnology magazine, in the 80s. Best, JBR Banshee S was also in 3025 Tech Readout. Described at least. Good choice. I wrote a long post about how I dig the Phoenix Hawk LAM, and but setting myself up with one would just mean I'm some baronet in Bumfuque who spends his time flying his mech from fishing spot to fishing spot and only fights if I get a call from General Earl Karl Whatznutz that I have to defend our hatchery from someone trying to steal rainbow space trout roe as aquarium lostech. GM would just say "congrats, you won the mechwarrior RPG for all time, now make a character who will show up on Galatea with everyone else". So, in spirit of the game and not just how to survive the world... the Hatchetman. Getting up close and violently personal is fun. And with more mobility than a Hunchback. Grasshopper is also badass for mobility and firepower and fight or campaign sustainability. |
