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[e0n]

Release Date: April 24, 2018
Platform: Windows (7, 8, 10), Mac OS X (10.13+), Linux (post-launch)
Genre: Turn-based Tactics
Modes: Single-player Story Campaign, Single-player Skirmish, 1:1 Multiplayer PvP
Developer: Harebrained Schemes
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Price: Standard $39.99, £34.99 / Deluxe $49.99, £41.99
Official Website

Metacritic: 78
OpenCritic: 80

From the creators of the Shadowrun Returns series comes the release of a turn-based, classic BattleTech game.

In the year 3025, humanity is still alive, yet embroiled in a war among noble houses whose armies consist of armored combat vehicles called BattleMechs.
As a mercenary, you command a squad of up to four BattleMechs in combat and negotiate contracts that affect your level of funds, salvage, and reputation.
On a broader scale, you can recruit members, individually customize mechs, and improve your home base as you handle conflicts during interstellar civil war.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

Is this like front mission? Loved FM3

 

[WaterAstro]

I'm looking forward to this, but with God of War and Yakuza 6, it's gonna be a while before I get to it.

 

[lefty1117]

Been playing some mechwarrior online last few days just to get in the mood

 

[LordPezix]

Wish we would get Starsiege successor, that was my fav mech platform.

This does look awesome though!

 

[Makariel]

My body is ready!

Can't wait for the game to finally unlock.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Currently playing BOTW and i don't think that i'll be playing anything else for quite a while (cuz i usually stick to one game until i finish it and if i really love it - BOTW is one of those games for sure), and then there's also Xenoblade Chronicles 2. So... yeah, see ya at the end of the year (at best) Battletech, you're in my wishlist.

 

[Twinsen343]

Dam, the bad thing about being in Australia is this and frostpunk both com out while I am asleep.... lucky it's a public holiday tomorrow!

 

[Nikodemos]

Finally, a worthy successor to MechCommander!

 

[Shifty]

I'm waiting on MechWarrior 5 myself, but it's great to see the Battletech universe making a comeback in 2018.

 

[Agent_Carnage]

Question can you name the Mech Pilots? Is there any customization like in X-Com?

 

[theclaw135]

What breed of mechs am I in the mood for? This releases so close to Super Robot Wars...

I'm swamped trying to juggle games like Skyrim, Atelier Lydie, and Tales of Berseria as it is.

 

[abracadaver]

 

[Ml33tninja]

Thanks for the vid! I’m sold and for 40 too. Sounds interesting! I might want to streaming it if I can get my set up correctly

 

[e0n]

Question can you name the Mech Pilots? Is there any customization like in X-Com?

As far as I know, you can only customize the background, appearance, and name of your own main character at the start of the game. The recruitable mech pilots have a preset background and attributes, but you can only increase their various skills. They've been getting some flak for this since I think it was promised content for the kickstarter, but they had to cut it for launch. As for the mechs themselves, you can change the color and modify the amount of armor, weapons, and equipment to a certain limit.

 

[Agent_Carnage]

As far as I know, you can only customize the background, appearance, and name of your own main character at the start of the game. The recruitable mech pilots have a preset background and attributes, but you can only increase their various skills. They've been getting some flak for this since I think it was promised content for the kickstarter, but they had to cut it for launch. As for the mechs themselves, you can change the color and modify the amount of armor, weapons, and equipment to a certain limit.

That sucks. Thats one of the reasons I like X-Com as I can roleplay and create a squad of my friends.

 

[Hendrick's]

Been waiting a long time for this. Sounds like it is a nice adaptation of the able top game. Can't wait to get home and play!

 

[Makariel]

Been playing a few hours and liking it so far. But one thing is a bit odd, I found the graphics and animation in the backer beta were better. Is that just my mind playing tricks on me, or were they really turned down for some reason? Just little things, like melee attacks often not connecting, while they looked more convincing in the beta. I haven't done many story missions yet, but it seems like we're getting random side missions and better crafted story missions with dialogue and such. My avatar is an exiled mechwarrior from the draconis combine, who worked as merchant guard for a while before finding her way to the periphery. The character background already allowed a few different dialogue options, I'm curious how much or how little effect they will have in the long run.

The opening gives a quite nice introduction to the basics of the Battletech Universe, without drowning new players in useless detail or boring veterans. The tutorial is rather minimalist, with most of the information about gameplay hidden in dialogues with NPC around the dropship, which serves as HQ. I do wonder how many new players will completely miss many of the more arcane elements of Battletech? The missions were quite easy so far, so I'm looking forward to more challenging ones. Good to see the AI finally learned to use sensor lock.

That sucks. Thats one of the reasons I like X-Com as I can roleplay and create a squad of my friends.

Every Mechwarrior comes with a little bio and corresponding traits, so I guess they didn't feel it would be appropriate to rename them maybe? I'll guess it won't take long for a mod to take care of that

 

[bad guy]

Going to wait a patch or two and grab the game when it is ripe. In the mean time: Mechwarrior Living Legends !!

 

[Makariel]

Is Living Legends among the living again? I thought they had to stop because of the ongoing golden mech dumpster fire which is MW Online?

 

[Hendrick's]

The tutorial is rather minimalist

That's being kind. The tutorial is awful and worthless, unless you are looking to learn how to click on a yellow X when told to. It literally teaches you nothing about how to play the game. Luckily for me, I have played the tabletop game for years and have a good understanding of how things work. I can't imagine someone new to the IP making it very far without feeling completely lost though.

That said, I am really enjoying my time with the game, which is half small business sim and half tactical warfare. Not really hooked on the story much, but the mechanics of managing your merc company along with really good on the field action, has me day dreaming of jumping back in.

 

[Makariel]

I'm enjoying my time so far, and the missions can be brutal. A few misjudged moves and you stand on top of debris that was once your mighty Mech lance. The randomness makes this version as glorious and frustrating as the tabletop it is based on. When you pump missile after missile turn after turn into an enemy Mech and it just won't go down, while the return fire kills your best pilot is the stuff that creates bite-marks on gaming desks.

 

[NiiloPielinen]

Do you think that the mission difficulty indicators are correct?
I have had some mixed results, sometimes there is a large force of mechs that come at you almost at the same time and some other times there are only 3 mechs total but the difficulty is supposed to be higher

 

[Makariel]

Do you think that the mission difficulty indicators are correct?

Nope, I tried to load the same random 3 skull mission three times, and got very different opposition. One time I got 3 medium mechs, the next time 4 mechs of which half were heavies, the third time I got 4 mechs consisting of 2 heavy and 2 very heavy*. At that time I had only 2 heavy mechs myself.

The story missions seem more consistent, but in general more difficult than the randomly generated ones. Also some of the story missions favor a very specific approach and can get really difficult if you happen to land with the wrong mix of mechs in your lance.

In other news: I just read the developers update and it seems there will be full customization of NPC mechwarriors in a future update. Great news! While I like the kickstarter-backer-NPCs, the randomly generated are dull as toast.

edit: after typing I remembered that the two mechs were Orions, which are with 75 tons as heavy as heavy mechs can get, but not quite assaults ;-)

 

[Hendrick's]

Do you think that the mission difficulty indicators are correct?
I have had some mixed results, sometimes there is a large force of mechs that come at you almost at the same time and some other times there are only 3 mechs total but the difficulty is supposed to be higher

Always go by the pay and not the skulls. Much more accurate that way.

 

[mcz117chief]

A pretty good game. At first I was apprehensive because of some forum threads talking about the game burning out graphic cards but when I finally bought it I found out that my PC is whisper quiet all of the time I play it so no danger of overheating.

 

[NiiloPielinen]

Does anyone else find the GUI very slow? Opening load game screen can take almost a minute sometimes and moving between different screens on your ship can take like 15 seconds?

 

[Talyn]

Does anyone else find the GUI very slow? Opening load game screen can take almost a minute sometimes and moving between different screens on your ship can take like 15 seconds?

Yes and it's because the more saves you have the slower the game loads. You have to constantly delete old saves to prevent this from happening. Also, the more items you have in inventory the slower the Mechbay updates whenever your do anything in there. Some people recommend selling off everything you don't need to speed it up but given how little money you earn from selling off weapons compared to the cost of buying them I personally wouldn't do that. Hopefully HBS will fix these problems in a later patch.

 

[NiiloPielinen]

Yes and it's because the more saves you have the slower the game loads. You have to constantly delete old saves to prevent this from happening. Also, the more items you have in inventory the slower the Mechbay updates whenever your do anything in there. Some people recommend selling off everything you don't need to speed it up but given how little money you earn from selling off weapons compared to the cost of buying them I personally wouldn't do that. Hopefully HBS will fix these problems in a later patch.

And naturally the game doesn't ask whether you want to overwrite older save, no it just creates a new one everytime.

In my inventory I have ton of stuff, for example over 100 m lasers which of course have to be sold one at the time. Like it's some 80's nes RPG.

And each sell operation takes about 5 seconds after I press the sell button.

 

[WaterAstro]

So uh I'm having a stuck screen issue after the tutorial completes. It's a known issue as a lot of people are reporting it, but none of the fixes seem to help.

I have the GOG version.

 

[NiiloPielinen]

I finished the game, I quite liked it despite some of the issues I've mentioned. Are there plans for more content ?

 

[Makariel]

I finished the game, I quite liked it despite some of the issues I've mentioned. Are there plans for more content ?

Yes there are, at least there has been hinted at in the backer updates. From the top of my head: more mechs, more mission types, more maps, more everything really. A game like BT makes further expansion relatively easy, compared to their previous title Shadorwun, which was purely narrative driven.

 

[WaterAstro]

Fixed my issue and finished the game. I had to uninstall GOG Galaxy for some reason, and reinstall the game without GOG Galaxy installed.

It's pretty solid mechanically, and the story is very typical Inner Sphere drama. I still think Inner Sphere mechs are boring, so I hope they bring in the Clan invasion at some point. I want to have my Timberwolf/Mad Cat. I think I still prefer Mechcommander's gameplay though. Even though turn based is classic Battletech PnP, I like the action of RTS controls.

 

[Makariel]

A Mad Cat would be lovely, still my favorite mech design of all time. I'm happy with the turn based gameplay, but MechCommander was cool as well and I wouldn't mind a new one. Perhaps in the times of the WoB Jihad.

I'm a bit puzzled that Catalyst games didn't get their act together and release a new box set for the tabletop game. Someone who is interested in BT as result of the game and searches for the tabletop is greeted by a ugly looking and out of date website. Currently there is not even an easy way for beginners to jump into the hobby, since the current starter box is out of stock for half a year or so already. They announced a new one, but no release date yet. By the time that comes along, the hype is long gone.

 

[NiiloPielinen]

Fired up the game again and despite some patches, it is still quite slow on the non-combat side of things, clicked a repair button and it took 20 seconds before anything happened

 

[Makariel]

After about a month not playing, I picked it up again this weekend and wtf happened to the difficulty curve? I thought they wanted to address the issue of skulls being not representative in patches but if anything it got worse. Last night I had a 3 skull mission with two enemy lances filled up with LRM boats attacking me from the start, and with little room to retreat for me. Was the first time I didn't see anything other than withdrawal as an option. At least I got out before losing a mech.

Spoiler: Campaign

At least I got some Lostech now. A shiny new (old) Highlander with nothing other than a Gauss Rifle!

 

[Shouta]

I'm just about finished with the game and while I really enjoyed it, I wish they had put more time into changing up the randomly generated missions. There's a lot of same-y ones with the same map. A few types and variables would have gone a long way. The story isn't bad for what it is and the mech combat is nice even if load-outs can be a little restrictive.

 

[Makariel]

Finished the game last week and spent some time starting a new campaign. There are a few mechs I rarely saw, some I didn't see until after the final story mission (Stalker) and so far I've not seen a single Urbanmech. Are they actually in the game? On second play, the missions are now much easier since I know much more about how the AI works and it took me way too long to realize that I can focus fire. It makes a huge difference in 4v8 battles if you can take out enemy artillery mechs by well-placed shots to torso sides containing ammunition. I'm also having fun with a Dragon with nothing but jump jets and AC/20, as well as a Banshee with nothing other than mods for more punching damage, less self-DFA-damage, flamers and jump jets. Of course painted bright red and I yell "Sho-Ryu-Ken!" every time I DFA or uppercut some poor fellow.

I'm contemplating a light-mech-only run.

 

[Makariel]

The latest patch has changed quite a few things in terms of balance.

I've also started a light-mech-only run, which is training in patience. But it is a nice feeling when a plan comes together, and I take out 4 medium mechs with a Panther, 2 Locust and a Spider, without having any losses.

 

[wipeout364]

I think I’m gonna pick this up in the Steam sale that’s on right now. Meant to buy it before but was too busy.

 

[Makariel]

I think now it's a good time to start playing. The recent patch sorted out a lot of little annoyances and makes the whole game work much smoother.

 

[egocrata]

Finished the game last week and spent some time starting a new campaign. There are a few mechs I rarely saw, some I didn't see until after the final story mission (Stalker) and so far I've not seen a single Urbanmech. Are they actually in the game? On second play, the missions are now much easier since I know much more about how the AI works and it took me way too long to realize that I can focus fire. It makes a huge difference in 4v8 battles if you can take out enemy artillery mechs by well-placed shots to torso sides containing ammunition. I'm also having fun with a Dragon with nothing but jump jets and AC/20, as well as a Banshee with nothing other than mods for more punching damage, less self-DFA-damage, flamers and jump jets. Of course painted bright red and I yell "Sho-Ryu-Ken!" every time I DFA or uppercut some poor fellow.

I'm contemplating a light-mech-only run.

The Urbie is only available at stores, never on the opposition force. Supposedly is so slow that it broke the enemy AI.

I love this game, but a light-only run sounds impossible. I just had a random 3-skull mission where I ended up fighting one medium, four heavies, and three assault mechs...

 

[Hendrick's]

The Urbie is only available at stores, never on the opposition force. Supposedly is so slow that it broke the enemy AI.

I love this game, but a light-only run sounds impossible. I just had a random 3-skull mission where I ended up fighting one medium, four heavies, and three assault mechs...

Yeah, I tried to run all lights, but it's just not viable.

 

[Makariel]

My only problem so far is that I don't find enough "heavy" light mechs. I am in desperate need for a few more Firestarter or Jenner, but all I get is tons of locusts. At least I got 2 Panthers for some firepower. But I need a close combat murder machine that I can fill to the brim with flamers to shut down assaults later on.